The Shadows of the Mind
by Ne Gok Sa
Summary: Everyone has different ways of coping with anger, rage, or righteous fury. Some contain it, some embrace it, some try and live beside it and others simply...let go.   Just so you know, there is violence. Lots of it. Fight scenes are kinda my thing, so...
1. Prolouge

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Prolouge...

The forest was quiet, absolutely still underneath the constant cloud cover. Occasionally, lightning would crackle overhead, disturbing the unnatural stillness for a brief moment. Then the quiet would return.

Ordinarily, in this…particular forest, there would be a great cacophony of sounds to be heard by a casual observer, as he was borne to the ground and torn apart by any number of animals, monsters, apparitions, or even the more aggressive plant life. In fact, these woods were famously inhospitable to travelers, and it was no surprise to hear, at any given moment, a sudden scream of a distant victim. Occasionally, you might hear something a little more normal, like the chirping of a songbird for example, but once you turned to look at it, you would quickly discover that it was merely a distraction set up by a hungry kardacii, who would reduce your standing in life from "upper-middle class" to "today's lunch special."

But even in your final moments, especially in your final moments, you would never be lacking for something to hear.

This made the current silence very unusual.

There were two distinct possibilities: either the denizens of this particular stretch of forest had been scared off or into silence by something that had just passed through, or by the source of a low rumbling that had been drawing nearer for the past few hours, and was only just now arriving.

There was a loud crackle as trees were crushed and broken by the enormous thing that thundered past.

Six massive legs slammed rhythmically into the ground, propelling what looked, at first, to be a giant, mechanical beetle through the dense vegetation. It stood as tall as an apartment building and as long as a city block, and was fronted by a massive "head," with two large, domed viewports serving as eyes and a set of pincers that chewed through any obstacle like it was made of tissue paper.

It was the mobile fortress of Mukuro, and its distinct silhouette looming on the horizon was enough to strike fear into the heart of even an A-class apparition.

Years earlier, before the first Great Tournament, Mukuro had been one of the three Kings of Demon World. Known for savagery in combat and a ruthless personality, she kept almost no order at all within her borders. But what laws she passed, she enforced from within her fortress, which could reach any corner of her territory in a matter of days. Its bowels could house hundreds of the strongest warriors, and it could embark for months without requiring additional fuel or provisions. It could unfurl six heavy artillery cannons from its colossal flanks, extend an electromagnetic pulse-emitter from its back which could knock out all electronics within six-mile radius, and it could lash out at attackers with more than sixty anti-infantry turrets poking out from every part of its steel carapace. It was the ultimate in military might, and its existence alone had kept Mukuro in power for centuries.

Now, following the first and second Great Tournaments, the giant insect served as a sentry, guarding Demon World against any threats, both foreign and domestic. It constantly patrolled the edges of Demon world in search of any humans who may have stumbled upon it accidentally, or demons who were attempting to defy the laws the Champion had enacted. Mukuro had agreed to its assignment without protest: she had no use for it now. Her political ambitions had vanished with the first tournament, and with the appearance of a certain small, red-eyed demon that had participated.

He stood now atop the head of the mobile fortress, peering out over the trees with a large, almond-shaped eye in the center of his forehead, which was giving off a faint purple glow. He stood roughly four-foot-ten, not counting his hair, which stood rigidly outward from his head in defiance with all practical laws of physics, and gave it an odd, spork-like quality. The frontal slope of his hair was shot through with a jagged arch of white highlights, which contrasted the surrounding black rather sharply, along with his long black cloak, and loose black pants tucked smartly into his black boots. The tip of a sword sheath could be seen peering out from beneath the hem of his cloak.

His normal eyes were closed in concentration, while the surgically-implanted Jagan eye continued to search.

A day earlier, this eye had detected an enormous power surge that had nearly brought him, Mukuro, and several of the more sensitive patrolmen, to their knees. They had been able to pinpoint the direction the surge had come from, but due to the unusual nature of the surge, the distance was impossible to calculate. The fortress had immediately changed course to investigate.

There was indeed something…odd about the surge. Any demon, or human for that matter, capable of such an incredible feat of power would have to have an energy signature you could practically see from space. Such a powerful entity was generally no trouble to track, although few would dare to actually look for it. And the surge definitely had a signature, indicating that the source of the energy was an individual, not a collection of weaker beings. But after the surge, the source of the energy seemed to…fade. Subside. Vanish. Like whatever had caused the surge had…shrunk.

It was as if the creator of the surge had a variable power level, and had gone from above an A-class to well below an E-class almost immediately following the end of the surge.

The man frowned. Technically, such a feat was possible. One's energy level could change, although, barring actual transformation, this was usually a gradual process. However, if there was a transformation, it would account for the sudden unexpected surge where no surge should have been, and for the sudden disappearance of the surge's source.

But if you had suddenly become that powerful, why change back…?

"Hiei? Did you find something?"

The man opened his crimson eyes and looked over at his companion. "No, Mukuro, there isn't anyone or anything for miles that could have produced an amount of energy even CLOSE to what we felt."

Mukuro returned to thoughtful silence. She was a beautiful woman, or rather, she should have been. The entire right half of her body, besides the hand, foot, and lower leg, was a mass of dark scar tissue. Her modest clothing hid it well, all except her face, which she chose to hide behind a crude mask of cloth and string, with a tinted lens to hide her damaged eye. The only visible evidence of the injuries were the few sharp scars that ran over the dividing line on her face.

She stood from her seated position, almost a foot-and-a-half taller than Hiei. "Well, continue searching. I'll head inside and see what our scanners can tell us. Perhaps we've yet to hit the surge zone yet."

She squeezed Hiei's shoulder gently as she headed into the fortress, a gesture that would have cost any other, human or apparition, their hand, if not several other things. This time, however, Hiei did nothing other than allowing himself the smallest hint of a smile.

He stood in solitude, feeling the wind against his face as the giant beetle rumbled forward at tremendous speed. He closed his normal eyes again and stared outward with the Jagan…

_Trees. Nothing but trees. A few animals, here and there, E-class mostly. A couple of D-class. One C-class apparition passing across our path: his mind says that he wants nothing to do with us. He has no idea about the surge we're following. He's actually a little relieved to see us: he's hoping we'll deal with the human he just saw-_

Human?

Hiei squinted with the Jagan, peering intensely around where the C-class had been moments ago. Trees, rocks, animals, plants, everything became transparent to his all-seeing Jagan, until finally-

There, about three-hundred yards ahead, was a human.

Hiei stared at the figure. He strained the Jagan's sensory abilities to their limits, and it still told him the same thing. He mentally shook himself and looked out again.

The human was still there, standing about six feet tall, wearing a long black coat and carrying some sort of staff in his hand. Further details were hard at such a distance, in such poor light as was present in the dense jungles of Demon World, and Hiei couldn't even make out the man's face. All he could tell was that he was striding away from the fortress at a good pace, as if he had some clear goal he was after.

Ordinarily, the Jagan was unhindered by such things as light quality, but that was because it relied on the being's own energy to provide it insight.

In this case, the subject contained no energy. According to the Jagan, this human did not exist. The static flow of environmental energy flowed right through him, like he was a part of the air itself.

But there was clearly a man striding purposefully away from the fortress, pushing his way through the undergrowth. Any type of astral projection would have simply phased through it. Whatever this man was, he was solid.

Keeping his Jagan firmly fixed on the man, Hiei drew a small communicator from the depths of his cloak. "This is Hiei to fortress control: we have an unidentified human ahead of us, at a distance of approximately three hundred meters, wearing a long black coat and carrying a stick of some form. Prep a protection team to secure-"

Without warning, the man halted, and turned to look back. The shadows hid his face, but Hiei was struck by the strangest sense that he was staring directly into the Jagan…

_Enough of this shadow business_, thought Hiei. He needed to know what the man looked like. He began to inspect the man's mind-

He pulled back almost immediately. The man's mind held no thoughts. It was like opening a door and finding the room within engulfed in white-hot flame.

The communicator crackled. "Hiei? Sir? What were you saying? You stopped talkkzchzckzczkzc-" the voice faded into static.

On the man's shadowed face, two eyes suddenly appeared, glowing with a sharp yellow light that was intensifying by the moment. Hiei's Jagan finally registered an energy signal from the man, although there was something very, very wrong with it…

Hiei snapped into the device. "Stop the fortress! All forces prepare to engage-"

He was cut off as the giant fortress was brought to a dead stop. There was a loud screeching of metal as the beetle's structure strained to cope with the jarring change in motion.

The whole fortress shuddered. Hiei was hurled forward, bouncing hard across the rough metal surface, until he slammed into…

Rock?

After the shock waves had dissipated, Hiei opened his eyes.

From his perspective, all he could see was the top of the beetle's head, which was covered in ripples and dents from the sudden stop, and a vertical wall of…earth…

He got stiffly to his feet.

From the looks of things, a mountain had materialized directly in the beetle's path, with not even enough of a warning to react to it.

He stepped back a few paces from the mountain. It peaked a few meters up.

He clicked on his communicator while he stared up at the expanse of rock. "Control, damage report."

He heard nothing but static from the device.

"Dammit, Control, do you read-"

"Demons! Your time has come!" thundered a voice.

Hiei looked around. Odd: the voice seemed to emanate directly from the mountain itself-

The rock exploded outward, blasting Hiei back. He tumbled backwards for a few paces before managing to regain his footing and look up.

The man stood outlined in a neat hole in the rock, long coat flowing dramatically behind him. Hiei noted that his eyes had resumed their normal appearance, and that his energy level seemed to be slightly lower than the average human. He stood about five-foot-seven, with youthful features and dark blonde hair.

Hiei looked into his eyes, and saw nothing but pure, righteous hatred reflected in them. They glared at Hiei as if his very existence was a sin against everything good and just in the world. It was an almost…familiar emotion to Hiei, who had, himself, harbored such a resounding hatred of the whole human race only a few short years ago.

Hiei pulled off his cloak, revealing a heavily-bandaged right arm and a remarkably built physique for such a small figure, and drew his katana. Tossing the sheath aside, he addressed the man. "I'm only going to say this once," he said sharply, "surrender or die."

The man cracked a smile that was totally devoid of goodwill. "Funny," he said in a dark, baritone voice, "I was just about to offer you the same warning. Only I wasn't going to give you a choice!"

A healthy yellow glow returned to the man's eyes. Hiei's Jagan was still adjusting to comprehend the man's strange energy, but by his judgment, the man's power level was at around a mid C-class.

Ignoring the confusing power readings, Hiei responded, "Very well. I'd rather not give you the choice either."

With uncanny speed, Hiei shot forward towards his opponent, bringing the katana around in a slice that would have removed the man's head. The man parried the blow quite easily with his staff, as Hiei had predicted. The sword whipped around to the man's other side faster than he could possibly move his staff to block.

The man caught the sword in his free hand without sustaining even a scratch, and swung Hiei full into the mountainside, knocking the wind out of him.

As Hiei fought to get his breath back, he felt his sword wrenched from his hand. Unable to lunge for it, he had to duck a blow from the staff, which hit the rock with an explosion of energy.

Hiei rolled upright and bounced quickly over a swipe from the staff, only to watch as the man swung in a full circle, maintaining his momentum, batted him out of the air with the other end of the weapon.

Hiei was thrown backwards, landing roughly where he had started from originally.

The man still held Hiei's sword in an entirely unscathed hand. As Hiei watched, the man's eyes flared brightly, and he snapped the Katana in one hand.

Hiei looked on grimly. The man's power was impossible to calculate. His power class was solely dependant on the amount of energy he needed. It changed to match the power of each attack he threw. There was no way to judge what his upper limit might be.

The man looked past Hiei, saw something, and vaulted backwards to perch on the peak of his instantaneous mountain.

Hiei turned as Mukuro and several demon warriors ran up to him. "All our electronics are shot." said Mukuro. "What exactly are we facing?"

Hiei turned back to look at the figure crouching on the mountaintop. "I'm not sure." he said. "Something powerful, I can tell you-"

"What you are facing, Demons," shouted the man, "is your doom!"

Without warning, Hiei felt the man's power rise from C to B-class as he thrust his arm forward. A pillar of rock grew straight out of the mountainside, smashing into the hull of the fortress and putting an enormous dent in the steel. The apparitions scattered as the impact sent tremors through the giant beetle.

"Ok," said Hiei, examining the rock, "Now you're really starting to piss me off."

Suddenly, the fortress rumbled beneath him as the damaged thing began to grudgingly make its way backwards off of the large mountain it had collided with. Hiei's communicator squawked with static as someone tried to send Hiei an explanation or warning of some kind.

The man laughed at the retreating insect. "Ah, running already? No, that won't do at all…"

Hiei felt his power level rise from B to A-class. He heard his communicator explode at his hip.

"Move!" he shouted, and the apparitions leapt forward off the enormous fortress.

There was a rumble like nothing Hiei had ever heard before. It seemed to come from all around, from the very earth itself.

And then, the rumble gave way to the single loudest noise Demon World had heard in almost 500 years.

The force of the explosion threw the apparitions forward into the mountain, then removed the top thirty meters from the mountain's peak.

Hiei tumbled through the avalanche, desperately trying to gain some sort of foothold. He managed to bring himself shakily to a stop roughly a hundred meters above the mountain's base.

Smoke filled the sky above them, but whatever remained of the fortress was concealed behind the mountain they were standing on.

Hiei's ears were ringing so loudly, he couldn't hear a thing. He turned about to find that most of the demon warriors had tumbled all the way to the base, where they were met by the man with the staff.

Hiei watched as the seemingly silent engagement took place, roughly a dozen A-class demons taking on a single human. As they encircled him, preparing to attack as one, the man's eyes flared up again, and he struck the ground mightily with his staff.

Hiei's Jagan was nearly overcome by the amount of strange energy the man released. All around the man, the earth rose up in columns and spikes, knocking demons every which way and spearing three instantly. One demon found himself launched into the center of the ring, towards the man, who caught him one-handed by the throat, summoned a stone spike before him, and impaled the warrior upon it

Though the apparitions had the man grossly outnumbered, they found the earth itself to be against them. Boulders would come flying from underground to intercept a lunging demon; caverns would open up to swallow one who had just risen to his feet. Of the dozen or so apparition warriors that had escaped the destruction of the fortress, only three managed to actually reach the man: all three were dispatched with relative ease when they met up with the man's whirling staff.

Hiei looked about, and found Mukuro: she had halted her decent several meters above him, and had now leapt to her feet, charging downwards at the man. Hiei joined her as she sped past.

The two mighty apparitions hurtled towards the man, who stood silently at the base of the hill awaiting them.

His eyes flared up again, brightly this time, and Hiei was again struck by a wave of strange energy readings from his Jagan. The ground began undulating beneath them, tripping Mukuro. Hiei kept his footing using his incredible speed, and continued to charge.

Then, suddenly, he found himself charging uphill. The man had created another mountain, which had borne him upward to tower above Hiei. Having given himself the height advantage, it was now the man's turn to charge, screaming, down the slope towards the waiting apparitions.

Hiei met him halfway, shouting "Fist of the Mortal Flame!" His right hand became enshrouded in an orange fire, and he drove it hard into the stomach of his opponent.

The man was thrown up the hill a short ways. Hiei leapt after him to perform the finisher, but the man rolled upright and caught Hiei square in the chest with a stab from his weapon. Hiei was knocked to the ground, stunned, as the man dove forward, energy level surging from A-class to almost an S-class.

Hiei sprang up and backwards away from a set of razor-sharp stone spikes that leapt up out of the ground.

He landed lightly next to Mukuro, who had gotten to her feet. They stared upwards at the figure, whose eyes were now hissing slightly with the sheer amount of energy they emitted.

The man raised his staff and plunged it into the ground. A line of spikes erupted down the mountainside, heading for the apparitions, who stepped to either side.

The two demons sped up the slope, dodging, avoiding, or smashing their way through the various stone formations that exploded from the earth to confront them.

As they neared the man, Mukuro clearing a short pillar and Hiei slipping between a set of black stone spears that jutted out towards him, he raised his staff high into the air and brought it to the ground with a resounding boom.

A dome of rock rose up and enveloped him.

The two demons waited for a moment. Cautiously, they started forward. When they got close enough, Hiei drew his fist back to smash the dome to bits-

At which point the dome exploded. Shards of sharp rock cut deep into Hiei's skin, and he saw blood spatter away from Mukuro as she suffered similar injuries.

As the demons tried to regain their senses, the man leapt from the dust cloud and attacked, smashing Mukuro over the head once, twice with his staff, and then blasted her back into a pillar with an explosion of rock from the ground.

He turned and headed for Hiei, who was back to his senses, and who returned that charge in full.

Quite unexpectedly, the man leapt straight up in the air.

Hiei stumbled as the earth suddenly bore him upward towards the man, who was already coming down at incredible speed. The force with which the man collided with Hiei caused the latter to cough up blood.

Stunned, Hiei was unable to stop the man as he picked him up by the throat, leapt from the pillar, and drove his head into the mountain as they landed, leaving an impact crater several meters wide.

The man rebounded backwards off of Hiei, who was unable to properly coordinate his body at this point. He landed lightly, and thrust his hand upwards with a roar of rage.

Hiei felt the ground beneath him rumble and-

"Hiei!"

He felt a pair of delicate hands grab him and hurl him roughly out of the small crater.

There was a louder rumble, followed by a series of sharp, knife-like noises, and the sickening crunch of stone meeting flesh.

Hiei got roughly to his feet, and looked back.

A pair of enormous, stone jaws had erupted from around the crater, trapping their victim, and then riddling the chamber with dozens of razor-sharp spikes.

Eight of the twelve spikes had found their mark, and three had hit multiple times.

Hiei looked at the form suspended from the rock.

"…Mukuro?"

There was no reply.

"Mukuro!"

Still nothing. Her one good eye hadn't even had time to close.

There was a sudden, deadly silence, broken only by the man's breathing in the background.

Hiei couldn't move. His body was frozen, unresponsive, and unable to look away from the sight of Mukuro's body, frozen in place by its stone entrapment, arms outstretched as it had thrown him to safety.

Several thoughts attempted to get through to Hiei's body, but he heard none of them.

From his position farther down the hill, the man began to laugh again.

"Do not pretend to feel sorry for this one, little demon. I've simply sent it back to the demon homeland. I've sent it back to hell. And soon, you can join it, if you like. I think I've still got one ticket left…"

A single thought finally registered with Hiei's body.

In an instant, Hiei was upon the man, delivering blow after blow at speeds the natural eye was incapable of following, pouring every last ounce of his remaining energy into hitting the man even harder after every sequential strike.

Dimly, he noticed the man begin to retaliate. He didn't bother to block the blows: he couldn't feel them anyway. His Jagan had been overcome by a sort of haze of energy, so he couldn't even judge the man's power level anymore, but he didn't notice that. He didn't even care that the man was somehow managing to simply _take_ every punch Hiei threw. He just kept hitting the man with all his might.

Minutes passed, with the combatants hurling titanic blows at each other. Half the mountain was reduced to rubble as certain attacks missed their mark. Each hit was accompanied by a resounding boom, and Hiei's lightning-fast attacks were creating almost a solid wall of sound.

Hiei delivered a punch to the man's chest that caused the trees many meters behind him to sway. The man staggered from the blow, but still managed to swing a punch of his own. Hiei ducked under it, slamming his fist into the man's stomach, and then threw an uppercut into the man's jaw, sending him to the floor.

"Who are you?" he shouted at the man. "Tell me, human, _who are you?_"

He lunged at the man, but was intercepted by a column of earth that rose from the ground. Hiei rolled upright, still facing the man. "Tell me, so that I can know exactly who I am about to kill."

"I have no name." replied the man in a raspy voice as he started to rise.

"Liar! Tell me who you are!" Hiei dove forward again, faster than the man could react, and slammed him back into the ground.

Hands around the man's throat, Hiei growled into his face, struggling to concentrate through the angry red mist forming around vision. "Tell. Me. Who. You-"

Both of the man's hands hit Hiei's chest like pile drivers, then grasped Hiei's shoulders and forced him off. A leg connected with Hiei's ribs, sending him flying away.

"You want to know who I am?" asked the man.

He got to his feet and stalked towards Hiei. "I am the Final Reckoning. I am the Judgment. I am the End."

Hiei stood up, still seeing through red mist of fury. "Well isn't that just perfectly self-righteous of you-"

"Evil creature!" The man lunged forward. Hiei leapt. They collided in midair, hurling attacks at each other.

"I have come here, demon, to cleanse the world of your presence," screamed the man as he struck Hiei again and again, "to extract payment for the crime of your existence! I am because you shouldn't be. I exist so that you will cease to exist! I am the end of your life, the end of your world! I am the Apocalypse! I am the Armageddon! Do you hear me, demon? _I am Armageddon!_"

Finally, Hiei was aware of a single, powerful haymaker connecting with his temple. He was next aware of hitting a thick tree at speed, and watching the remains of seven others crash to the ground behind him.

He fell slowly to the floor.

He could dimly perceive the man walking up to him, face hidden in shadow.

He nodded to Hiei, who was losing consciousness. "Well fought, demon. You have shown me that I still have much strength yet to gain, that I have much, much more work to do if I'm to compete with the strongest members of your blasphemous race. For this service, I shall consider your ticket to hell invalidated. However, we shall meet up again, you and me, and at that time, your ticket will definitely be non-refundable."

He turned and strode away as Hiei blacked out. "Farewell, demon…"


	2. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story begins...

It was 8:15, and the school already felt overcrowded.

From the top landing of the main stairwell, Sin was able to make out at least a couple-hundred people, and there were still countless more spread out over the building. Four college classes, each 900 members-strong; that made for a total of thirty-six-hundred people walking through this building every day. For a school designed to house twenty three-hundred, this made for absolutely terrible traffic in the hallways between classes.

She sighed. And it was still ten minutes before the first bell. There would be even more people in here by then.

She stepped back from the railing and returned her attention to the landing. This was the favored spot for her in the mornings, before all the people got here. It was quiet and peaceful, but also big and open. It felt…nice. Especially when Emina would come early, allowing them to sit and talk for about half an hour completely undisturbed. It always amused Sin: they had been friends since they were six, and they still hadn't run out of things to talk about.

Right now, the landing was also occupied by the pair's two closest guy friends, Suiichi and Mal, who tended to gravitate to them whenever their bus arrived at school.

The two neighbors were both sitting cross-legged on either side of a square, checkered board, which was dotted with a sprawl of white and black discs. As she watched, Suiichi placed a white disc carefully on the board, causing an entire row of black discs to be flipped over to their white side and eliciting an aggravated groan from Mal.

Sin sighed. They were playing Othello again. It seemed like that was all they ever did, matching intellects using a bunch of colored chips. And, like practically every other time, Mal was losing.

The game did seem to be engaging Emina's attention as she sat cross-legged beside the board, although considering she seemed particularly focused on Suiichi's concentrated expression, Sin wasn't sure it was the _same_ game.

She suppressed a grin as the two boys continued their mental struggle. "You guys have ten minutes," she said, crouching down, "so Malo, you may just want to concede now."

"Shut up." he said quietly, "I can still win this."

"I'm afraid you can't." said Suiichi, sitting back.

After a moment, Mal agreed. "You're right. I can't. Dang it…"

Sin looked at the board, confused. There were still almost a dozen empty spaces on the board, and the game didn't end until those were filled up. "Wait…how can't you still win? I was just kidding."

Mal gestured to the board. "Well, there are ten spaces left, each with a single combination per player. No matter who goes where, at this point, alternating turns, I can't overtake his current score. There aren't enough options."

Suiichi shrugged. "It's a very finite game, actually: it's possible to sufficiently predict your opponent's moves to come up with a reasonable score estimate about halfway through the game, or at least, to predict the winner."

"…Or you could just say Suiichi is gonna win based on the fact that the record now stands what, a billion to nothing Malo?" said Sin.

Mal sighed. "That'd be…41 to 13 now. And yes, I do concede this one."

"Aw…poor Mal." said Emina, patting his cheek consolingly. Mal's eyes immediately darted to meet Suiichi's. The two exchanged a 'Look,' which they chose to do on any occasion where they both knew what the other was thinking: Mal had once told Sin that he and Suiichi had reached the point where they could hold entire conversations using only their eyes and facial expressions.

Since entering high school, the two boys had been vying for the small albino's attention, and being intelligent people, they had figured out very quickly that they were each trying to get the same girl. It made some situations between them…tense, to say the least. So far, from their point of view, Mal was winning.

Sin shook her head at them. They were both wonderfully intelligent, yet they were still _boys_. In reality, Emi was leaning heavily towards Suiichi, which was why she avoided being alone with him at all costs and became more…engrossed in Mal whenever she was with both of them, because she knew that it would bother him.

She really couldn't understand how the two of them could miss something so obvious. Although to be fair, they didn't know Emi as well as she did.

Mal stood to stretch his legs. To lighten the mood, Sin stood up with him and punched him as hard as she could.

Emina burst out laughing as he doubled over in pain. Suiichi winced, but still laughed a little. "Sin, I really don't think-"

"Oh shut up, Suiichi." She said, grinning. "He lost. This is just his punishment. This way, he'll learn to stop losing."

Suiichi furrowed his brow. "I fail to see how physical violence will teach him anything about an intellectual-"

"No, she's right." He was cut off by Emina, who was also grinning. "It's like training a puppy not to pee on the carpet: when he does bad, you smack him. He doesn't wanna get smacked, so he stops peeing on the carpet."

"But…see…" Mal straightened up stiffly, holding his stomach. "If I…can't do something…and you hit me when…I don't do it…then how am I-ow!"

Emi slugged him in the arm, hard. "There. With two people training you, you'll learn twice as fast!" She gave him one of her smiles that displayed no kindness to speak of.

Mal massaged his arm. "Ok, look, this makes no-"

Sin punched his other arm. "That's for arguing with your trainers."

Emi punched him in the shoulder. "Same offense."

The red-haired Suiichi stood up, chuckling. "Alright, girls, that's probably enough-"

Emi punched Mal in the ribs. "That's for Suiichi being a whiny bitch."

Sin smacked Mal over the head. "Same offense."

At this point, Mal was practically on his knees. "Ok, you guys really need to stop…"

A couple more hits should do it, thought Sin. She smacked him in the head again. "That's for you being a whiny bitch." Emi hit him again as well. Sin braced for the outburst…

…that didn't come. Mal simply stood back to his feet as the early bell announced that all students should begin reporting to their first class. "Alright, I'll put up with this for now. But my game had better start improving, or you're both gonna get it." And with that, he picked up his bag and game and staggered off to his locker.

Sin stared after him, confused. A few months ago, that much abuse would have put him in Scary Mode, guaranteed. Lately, though, she hadn't seen Scary Mode at all. Not in class, where he was always mad at someone; not before or after school, where there were always lunatics wandering by, jeering at him and Suiichi to take advantage of their female company; not even when Sin hit him too often, which he absolutely hated, and which would always trigger Scary Mode, no matter what.

Emina looked over and saw Sin's expression. "I take it that wasn't what was supposed to happen?"

Sin shook her head. "Nope. Not even a glimmer of Scary Mode. That makes almost three months since its last sighting."

Emina frowned in concentration. "Hm…odd…"

Suiichi cleared his throat. "I, um, don't suppose you two are referring to our colleague's remarkable lack of aggression of late?"

Sin turned to look at him. "Say what?"

Suiichi paused to reword his sentence to fit the normal human vocabulary. "I, um, was wondering if you had noticed that Mal has become extremely…calm in recent times. He hardly ever loses his temper anymore."

Sin shrugged. "That just means he's stopped crying every time you beat him at checkers. What we're talking about is serious stuff, like the fact that he's stopped responding to punches and verbal assaults. Those used to make him snap like a dead tree in July."

Suiichi raised an eyebrow. "Very strange. He's also disappearing at odd intervals nowadays, skipping extracurricular activities, abandoning his homework to go out on his own, taking these 'surprise trips' every couple of weeks. He's even stopped attending the weekly meetings of the Combat League."

Sin snorted. "Ha! 'Combat League.' That just means he's either finally figured out that all people do there is hurt themselves, or he's finally gotten over that stupid Bo staff obsession. Either way, it's a good thing."

Suiichi shook his head. "While that may be true, the Combat League is a club he founded. He wouldn't begin skipping out on them just because he'd gotten bored: he's better than that."

Sin thought for a moment. "Hm…so he starts keeping odd hours…then suddenly loses all his aggression? That doesn't make any sense…"

Suiichi shrugged. "It doesn't have to: each mind works in its own, unique way. Perhaps it makes sense to him."

"We'll have to ask him." Said Sin, nodding.

The late bell rang quite suddenly, startling the three teens. "Shit! We're late! Bye guys!"

Sin grabbed her stuff and sprinted for her classroom.

Emina glanced up at Suiichi. A touch of color came to her chalk-white cheeks. "Um…bye." She said, and headed off.

The red-haired boy was left alone on the stairwell. He casually scooped up his books and strode away slowly, deep in thought.


	3. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

_…blood…_

_…blood…_

_…kill…shred…tear…kill…bite…_

_…taste…blood…_

_…need…_

_…need blood…_

_…want…want blood…_

_…blood…blood, taste it…drink it, blood…_

_…kill them…kill them shred them tear them bite them drink their _

_…blood…_

_…blood, blood, blood, blood yes blood blood yes oh bleeding blood blood lots of blood of tasty blood blood yes blood oh yes -_

"Ah!"

Sin woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat.

Laughter rippled through the classroom as the students all turned back to face the board.

"Ms. Antilles? Are you feeling alright?" asked the teacher from the front of the room, "Did you need to go to the nurse?"

Sin straightened in her seat, smoothing her sticky brown hair from her face, her teacher's voice momentarily shaking the nightmare from her mind. It annoyed her that this particular teacher refused to call her by her first name, although she had no problem with anybody else's. "No, ma'am, I'm good."

The teacher looked at her skeptically. "Well, then, if you're sure, I'd like to continue teaching my lesson without any more panicked screams, if that's alright with you?"

Sin nodded, trying to ignore the embarrassing color that was creeping up her cheeks. "Yes, ma'am, you can continue."

"Thank you. Now then, class, if you'll all turn your books to page…" Sin quickly tuned the teacher out.

Eventually, the bell rang, announcing the end of class. Sin exited the room, knowing all too well what was waiting for her in the hallway.

And sure enough, a group of students from the class was waiting for her.

"Aw, did wittle Sinny have a bad dweam?" jeered one girl in a uniform at least two sizes too small for her.

"Fuck off." Responded Sin, as she continued walking.

Another girl joined in. "Wittle Sinny-poo had a nightmare. Now she's all afraid!"

"Did you need a teddy bear?" said a boy in a pink uniform, pretending to console her. "It's alright if you do. I could let you borrow one of mine!" This drew a cruel laugh from the crowd.

Sin continued walking, struggling to remain calm

She bumped into a couple of bigger guys. "Hey, girl," said one of them. "Where you off to so fast?"

"Yeah, we wanted to talk to you." Said the second guy, his eyes shamelessly roaming everywhere but her face.

Sin felt her anger flaring, but she managed to hold it down. "Oh really? And what exactly did you need?" She felt her patience with these idiots wearing thin

The first guy spoke again, starting to run his hands over Sin's body. "See, we heard you was havin' bad dreams and stuff, so we figured, you probably don't wanna go to sleep now."

"Yeah," said the second guy, still staring. "An we thought, 'what could we do to keep a girl from sleepin' at-"

Sin's self-restraint snapped.

Ten seconds later, she resumed walking, leaving the two guys curled up on the floor praying for the pain in their groins to go away. "Thanks," she called back, "but I prefer guys who don't fold up that easily. Grow your balls back, then we'll see."

She reached the end of the hallway, where Suiichi was standing, observing the situation with his familiar thoughtful expression.

"Effective." He decided, as Sin drew level with him. "And rather impressive. Not your best work, though."

Sin shrugged as they started walking. "Yeah, well, I'm kind of out of it today, you know? Haven't been sleeping much lately." She blinked blearily.

"Oh?" asked Suiichi, turning to look at her. "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing, really, just…these dreams I've been having…" she trailed off.

Suiichi looked concerned. "What about?"

She shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about it right now…"

He nodded. "I understand. Might I ask why those two rather dim fellows were harassing you just now?"

Sin laughed. "'Dim' doesn't even begin to describe it. I, um, I kind of fell asleep in class last period…"

Suiichi chuckled. "Really? And haven't we all done this at some point?"

"I, uh…" said Sin, interrupting the chatty red-head, "I kind of… woke up screaming."

Suiichi nodded. "Ah. The same dream, then?"

"Yeah…" Sin looked down. "I, um, don't really want to talk about it…not yet, at least…"

He nodded again as they pair arrived at Sin's class. "Of course. Well, if, at any point, you find yourself needing to talk to someone…"

She smiled at his kindness and gave him a hug, cutting him off politely. "Thanks, Suiichi. I appreciate it, really. Only, not right now, okay?" He was a great friend, but she didn't feel comfortable telling him these fears right now.

Suiichi nodded as she released him, patting her on the shoulder. "I understand. Perhaps later, then."

Sin watched his pink uniform fade into the crowd. Suiichi was an…interesting person. He was kind, gentle, and super smart, and was one of Sin's best friends, but she couldn't help resenting him a little for stealing away some of her Emina's attention.

And she wasn't ready to talk about these dreams just yet, if in fact they were dreams. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about them that felt almost…familiar. Like a memory, maybe. But surely these images couldn't be memories, could they…?

She shuddered. She sincerely hoped not. She was just glad that she could rarely see anything during these dreams. It was always dark, not pitch-black, but, like, night-time with a heavy cloud cover. All she could make out were a few rustling noises, and then the feeling of rushing towards something just before she woke up.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to push all thoughts of sticky red liquid out of her head.

She entered her physics room and found her desk. They were going to be starting on subatomic physics today. She groaned. She hated physics, even the basic 'car goes down a ramp' kind of physics. She dreaded what all this hard-core physics was going to do to her…

Mal walked in as the bell rang, taking his seat three rows to Sin's right, farther from the door. He waved to her cheerily as she looked over at him.

She returned the gesture, wondering again about her friend's strange behavior. He seemed…different. Not noticeably, most of the time, but there were certain things that Sin knew he hated, and that always, without fail, seemed to just set him off. Put him in Scary Mode. But lately, like in the past two months, he just…didn't. He didn't ever flip out. He never lost his temper. It was like someone had taken a slice out of is personality and removed it cleanly from his head. And she wasn't sure she liked the change.

She stared at him, pondering.

Class roll-call was suddenly interrupted by a female student with bright blue hair tied into a high ponytail. Sin stared at her, wondering why she had never seen something as odd as this. Sure it was a large school, but at some point in her three years, she figured she would have noticed a blunette. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said with a trace of a British accent, "but I need Thomas Howley for early departure."

Sin saw Mal wince at the use of his real name, which she knew he hated. He stood up, though, and started for the door, walking past Sin's desk as he went.

"Figures," he muttered to her as he passed, "I'm the guy who wants to hear this lesson, and you're the one who's going to have to tell me about it later. See you."

Roll-call resumed, but Sin, not bothering to listen for her name, heard Mal say something very odd under his breath as he followed the girl out of the room.

He said, "I am going to kill that stupid toddler…"

* * *

"…I see." said Emina. "So what was the dream about?"

Sin paused to think for a moment.

School had only just let out, and the two girls had gone straight to their meeting place behind the school, settling down under their favorite maple tree. It's low, curving branches formed a leafy chamber around them, shielded from the crowds of students milling about and from the sunlight. This suited Emina's sensitive albino skin: If she were pressed any deeper into the tree's shadow, she would have melded with the bark.

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," said Sin. "I can't really see much, in the dream, or hear much. It's really dark, and I'm moving really fast. I can…" she rubbed her temples, trying to remember. "Wings. I'm pretty sure I have wings- had wings. I know I had wings .Anyway, I'm way up high, I think, and I can just about make out a forest way down below me. There's something moving in there, something I want to get. And I can hear other pairs of wings, besides mine, all around me…"

"So there's a bunch of you? How many?" asked Emina.

"Not sure…" she replied, still concentrating. "But…we're all following this thing in the woods…" she hesitated a little, "I…I want to kill it. We want to kill it. Whatever it is, we want to tear it apart and dig into it with our teeth and hands…" she trailed off again.

"Sounds delightful," observed Emina, licking her lips maliciously. "So you guys are hunting something?"

"Yes…no…maybe. I don't know. All I know is that I want to kill something. I need to kill something. It's like…almost like I'm hungry, but not for food, you know? I mean, maybe we're hunting this things for food, but that's not why I want to find this…whatever it is. I don't want meat, I want…blood…"

Her voice dropped in volume as she recounted the horrid, yet strangely appealing dream. "I want to find what we're looking for and tear it apart with my bare hands…I want to feel its flesh ripping and shredding under my claws, in my teeth…feel its blood running over my fingers…" she shuddered involuntarily, with both pleasure and disgust. Normally, she wasn't the squeamish type at all. She liked gory stuff, even. It gave her a sort of thrill. But watching it in a movie was very different from experiencing it firsthand…or at least yearning to experience it…

Unsurprisingly, though, Emina laughed warmly. "Oh, well, that's just ordinary bloodlust. We all get that way sometimes. Nothing to worry about."

Sin smiled at her friend. That was why she loved her Emi: she seemed to find the strangest things perfectly ordinary, or at least amusing.

Her smile faded as she continued. "See, the thing is…it doesn't really feel like a dream, you know? I mean, part of the thing with dreams is that you can't feel anything, but I definitely remember…feeling stuff. Like the wind against my face, tugging at my hair…I remember that feeling you get at the top of a rollercoaster, like you're stomach is sitting several feet below you, hanging into the wide empty space between you and the ground. I even remember how my wings, how they attached to my back, how the muscles tensed and relaxed around my shoulder blades…how the wind tickled the tips of them, how they billowed out as I beat them down into the air and folded as they came up again…I mean, it was really like I had had wings all my life. Like I knew what wings should feel like…but how can you know something like that? How can you know what wings feel like? It makes no sense…" she trailed off.

"Well, maybe that's just it," said Emina. "Maybe you don't know what wings feel like, so your brain's trying to imagine what they feel like. That's why it would feel so normal to have wings, don't you think? Because your brain already knows, or thinks it knows, what it should feel like…does that make any sense?"

Sin nodded, clutching her knees to her chest. "Yeah, I guess…"

Emina opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes flicked upward for an instant, then immediately downward like they hadn't seen anything. Her pale cheeks blossomed with color.

"Hello, Suiichi," said Sin, suppressing a grin.

There was a rustling as the boy stepped through the red leafy dome into the small chamber. "Hello, Sin," he responded, in his cool, liquid voice. "Hello, Emina."

"Hi," replied Emina, meeting his emerald eyes for the briefest of moments and flashing him a quick smile before returning to her intense inspection of a tree root.

Suiichi crossed the chamber in a couple of steps to sit down next to Emina. She saw the girl's red eyes widen in horror, and her cheeks flushed even brighter as she tried to subtly scoot away from the boy. She hid her face from him as Sin bit her cheek to keep from laughing.

Suiichi's long, messy red hair blended in with the maple leaves surrounding them as his finger began idly tracing a tree root. "What were you two discussing? I heard Emina's laughter a moment ago."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" said Sin teasingly.

"Indeed I would," replied Suiichi with a half-smile, catching Sin off-guard. "Oh, um…well...uh-" she sputtered.

"Girl-talk," offered Emina. "No boys allowed."

"Yeah," agreed Sin. "Girl-talk; such things are not meant for guys to hear."

Suiichi laughed at that. "I think you would find, upon closer inspection, that I am no ordinary guy." he winked at her slyly.

Sin laughed and was about to reply, but suddenly noticed a small shoot with a pair of tiny leaves sprouting from the root Suiichi's fingers were tracing.

"Hey," she remarked, "Was that there before?"

His fingers stopped as he looked to where he was indicating. "Was what there before?"

"That," she said. "Those little leaves." Emina craned over Suiichi to look, leaning much closer to the boy than necessary.

Suiichi chuckled. "What, those? Yes, they were there when I sat down. I remember my hand brushing them- oh I'm sorry, Emina. Are you alright?"

Sin burst out laughing as Emina sat back, clutching her nose where Suiichi's elbow had hit it. "It's fine," she mumbled, pale face now a healthy shade of pink.

Suiichi cleared his throat, face slowly approaching the color of his uniform. "Ahem, yes…erm, will Mal be joining us this evening?"

Sin shook her head, still giggling. "No, he got called for early dismissal. Same 'odd hours' thing you were mentioning earlier."

Suiichi regained his normally thoughtful composure. "I see. Interesting. I do wonder where he keeps going…"

"Well, he did mutter something about 'killing that stupid toddler' as he left, so it's probably nothing to worry about," she said.

Suiichi laughed, and even Emina released a small chuckle, a rarity in the red-head's presence. "Killing a toddler, eh? Well, I can't say I haven't wanted to do that once or twice over the years."

Sin laughed with them. "Very true."

Emina suddenly perked up. "Oh! Sin! I thought of a way to relieve your bloodlust!"

"Oh really?" said Sin as Suiichi raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

Emina grinned maliciously. "Well, we haven't gone Baiting in a very long time…"

Sin squealed in delight and clapped her hands together. "Oh. My. God. YES! Let's go Baiting! That would be awesome!"

Suiichi glanced between them and laughed uncertainly. "And what exactly is this 'Baiting'?"

Sin exchanged an evil smile with her friend. "Oh, I don't think you wanna know…"


	4. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

Baiting was fun, that's what it was.

First, the two girls ran back to Sin's house, where she lived with her parents. There, they changed out of their school uniforms and into more…casual clothing. They teased and combed their hair until it developed a perfect seductive sheen, and added little touches of makeup here-and-there, Sin tracing her eyes in the mirror with thick eyeliner, with Emina next to her, plumping her eyelashes with the perfect amount of mascara. Emina applied deep red lipstick to her friend, who unfortunately could never follow the shape of her own lips, then turned to the mirror to apply her own pink lip gloss. They checked each other's outfits, tugging a neckline slightly lower, adjusting a skirt so it hung around the thigh, just short enough to be sexy, but not short enough to be trashy. Then they flashed each other their signature smile, each with its own power to fry the brains of any passing member of the male gender in seconds.

Then, they left the house before Sin's parents could see what they were wearing, shouting quick goodbyes and generic statements as to where they were headed.

Then they simply…walked around. And watched the ensuing chaos.

The outfits weren't shameful, mind you: nothing so ridiculously revealing as they saw some of the REAL 'working girls' wearing, which left practically nothing to the imagination: Sin and Emina rather preferred leaving just enough to the imagination to occupy the mind for several seconds, during which time the owner of the mind would behave…amusingly.

Sin, sporting tight shorts, tall stockings, and a very flattering tank-top ran a finger down her chest, throwing a seductive half-lidded glance at a passing postal worker who was ogling her. She heard his truck plow through a mailbox a moment later and laughed maniacally. Today was going to be a good day.

Emina was wearing a short jeans-skirt and a tight t-shirt with the belly cut out of it. She arched her back, letting her silver hair spill over her back and leaving her flat tummy exposed, as they passed a group of day-laborers repairing a house. Sin watched, bemused, as one of them began steadily painting over a window while his attention was focused upon her friend's small, flexible frame.

The pair made their way towards the mall, where they knew they could cause REAL chaos.

The whole way there, they would increase their sexuality every time they would come upon a group of males: A golf course here, a gentlemen's club there, a video arcade, even a karaoke bar, where they were able to watch as several boyfriends lost their focus in the middle of talking to their girlfriends. Lots of yelling ensued once the girls started noticing. Guys got slapped. Girls got bitchy. Sin and Emina laughed their butts off.

Finally, the pair reached the mall, whereupon they stopped focusing their powers of appeal on specific areas and simply strode casually through the mall, swaying their hips a bit more than normal. Sin walked with an extra bounce in her step, letting gravity complement her body, and Emina sent flirty glances about, causing pandemonium wherever they went. Males everywhere stared dreamily after them, walking into glass doors, walking into real doors, walking into store employees, other patrons, even their own wife or girlfriend. A stock boy at a clothing store began to hang up a stack of women's lingerie underneath a sign marked 'Men's Casual.' Orders were mistaken, or forgotten, while consumers suddenly lost their grip on their food, and French fries dropped from mouths mid-chew. A Cineplex worker watched them with half-lidded eyes, oblivious to overflowing bag steadily pouring kernels into his shoes or the alarmed shouts of the customers. Sin noticed his manager headed towards him at high speed as they rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

The girls walked through the chaos they ensued pretending to be completely oblivious, effortlessly tempting all of man kind, while holding a perfectly normal conversation.

"So Emi," said Sin, "How 'bout that Suiichi?"

"Um…what about him?" she replied, looking down. The blush she was wearing nearly hid the blush she was blushing, but not quite.

Sin prodded her friend, grinning. "C'mon, I know you like him."

Her crimson eyes widened. "What? N-No, I-oh, he is going way to fast…"

A policeman on a Segway sped past them, wheels going on way, eyes going another. After about a second, he plowed straight into an ice cream vendor, causing an enormous crash, eliciting screams from the patrons, and sending ice cream everywhere. The panicked patrons were suddenly accosted by a swarm of children, prepared to fight to the death for this one chance at their ultimate paradise.

The girls watched, bemused.

"Come on, Emi," continued Sin, counting on her fingers, "you never say anything to him, you barely respond when he talks to you, you never look directly at him, you never willingly sit or stand near him-"

"Maybe I can't stand him, ever think of that?" she stated triumphantly, though she was still obviously flustered.

Sin laughed. "Yeah, maybe. Only your face matches his hair whenever he's within, like, ten meters. I've even seen you blush when you couldn't see him before."

Emina's hands flew to her cheeks. "I do? Oh no…" She hid her face, mortified.

Sin tackled her friend in a massive glomp. "It's alright. Suiichi's still a guy. He's absolutely clueless about your feelings for him."

She turned thoughtfully, leaving one arm around the smaller girl. "You know, I really can't see what's so appealing about him. I mean, the man's a complete wuss-"

"He is NOT! Shut up!" shouted Emina quickly. Sin gave her a look. Emina's death glare turned to horror. "I mean, um, well, it's just that-"

Sin squeezed her friend with one arm and rested the other in her back pocket. She heard a loud crash from their left and saw a shopping cart roll by, headed for the escalator. "Look, Emi, whatever I think doesn't matter: it's your life we're talking about. But if being with him will make you happy, than I say go for it."

Emina looked up at her as the shopping cart began bouncing merrily down the moving steps, sending pedestrians flying, as a very flustered-looking young man sprinted after it. "Go for it how?"

Sin shrugged. "Well, tell him you like him, and-"

"NO!" shouted Emina.

Sin raised an eyebrow. Emina shrank back again. "Erm, I mean…I can't just go up and say that I…"

"Why not?"

Emina looked down and mumbled something inaudible.

"Speak up, Emi. It's gotten really loud all of a sudden."

Emi raised her voice a touch. "He…doesn't like me."

Sin chuckled. "Are you sure about that?"

Emina nodded curtly. "Yes."

"Who told you?"

She hesitated. "…No one."

"Exactly."

"Um, see, no one has to-"

"Yes, someone does," insisted Sin. "He likes you, Emi. A lot. Now suck it up and go ask him out already."

"I…" Emina hesitated, then looked up at Sin pleadingly.

"What?" said Sin. Then she sighed. "I swear he likes you! It couldn't be more obvious if it was printed on him in neon letters."

She suddenly felt her lungs being crushed by the albino small child's glomp attack.

Sin laughed as she attempted to loosen the death-grip on her rib cage. Good lord, Emina was strong…"Emi…can't…breathe…"

"Oh, sorry!" The albino girl released her friend suddenly.

Sin wheezed for a moment to get her wind back. "No problem."

She planted a kiss on Emina's forehead. "All this strutting has tired me out. What do you say we head home?"

Emina nodded, practically bouncing in place with joy.


	5. Chapter 4

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

The girls left through the same door they came in, slipping into a more natural, less provocative gait.

They observed the fruits of their labor as they retraced the path of destruction. They could barely contain their laughter as they passed the construction sight which now held an irate building manager screaming at his workers from the center of the sight, while they hastily tried to undue a dozen different mistakes they'd made. Striding through the scene swearing angrily, he turned and suddenly lost his voice as the girls passed, easing once again into the seductive lope that had caused the problems in the first place. He unthinkingly walked onto a recently-poured foundation, concrete sticking to his boots like molasses. They heard his swearing resume, quite a bit louder, and they giggled to each other as they walked out of sight.

They talked along the way, about school, clothes, the quirks, good and bad, of their two best friends, Mal and Suiichi, and about other trivial things. And naturally Emina found a way to turn the conversation back to the fact that Sin had no special interest in anyone, and hadn't for the entire time Emina knew her. Although this feat was not impossible somehow Emi had got it into her mind that her best friend was keeping something from her "There's got to be someone you like," insisted Emina.

"Nope," replied Sin, crossing her arms, stubborn as always.

"Sin, there are twenty-seven thousand people that go to our school."

"Yep," she agreed. "And most of them are complete assholes."

"Most is not all, Sin."

"The rest of them, which is a very small number, are either sissies, weirdos, downright ugly, or we're so close that I could never imagine thinking of them romantically." She nodded, adding finality to the statement signaling the end of the argument.

Emina rubbed her temples. "Ugh, you are so frustrating…ok, first off, are we looking for a guy or a girl?"

"Guy," responded Sin. "Although there are some girls I wouldn't be totally opposed to…" she looked thoughtful.

Emina glanced at her friend, grinning mischievously. "Like me?"

Sin returned the devious smile. "Oh, you know it."

The small albino giggled. "Good. Just making sure. So we're looking for a guy…tall or short?"

"'I like them tall, with money,'" she said, quoting her favorite song.

Emina nodded, thinking. "Tall…what about hair color? Or hair style?"

Sin thought for a moment. "Long, flowing blonde hair. The kind I could run my fingers through. With deep brown eyes. They should be soft eyes, gentle eyes. But not too gentle: I want a man who knows his place, but isn't afraid to stick up for himself every now and then. He should be submissive most of the time, like a slave, but aggressive when I need him to be, like when we're having…a good time." She smiled, eyes flashing wickedly. "But he should like to do quiet things, like reading, or fishing, or cuddling on the couch. He should be fairly intelligent. He should have a thing for plants, especially flowers. He should know how to cook, too. He needs to be able to make me the most delicious breakfast in the morning, and have it warm for me when I wake up…"

Emina laughed. "Well, I see you definitely know who your perfect man is going to be."

Sin sighed and shook her head. "No. Actually, I would find that sort of man absolutely revolting. Now, Suiichi is sort of an exception to that."

Emina's thoughts hit several different points almost simultaneously. "Yeah, I suppose he- hey wait a minute that's not- huh, you're right, he does like flowers- wait, he's cooked breakfast for you?"

Sin laughed at her friend's sudden discomfort. "Haha, that was too easy! You're like a cat who's been petted the wrong way." She patted Emina on the head, and felt something fuzzy. "Hey, there's something in your hair-"

Emina jerked away suddenly. "Stoppit! That tickles!" She reached up and patted her hair. "No, I don't-wait, there is something." She pulled something from her hair, holding it in her palm.

It was a small, green pebble-like thing, with a long something sticking straight out from it. "That's not what I felt…" said Sin quietly.

"It looks like…a rock," said Emina, not hearing her, "or something…maybe a seed…"

Sin looked down at it. "Yeah, it's definitely a seed. A strange one, though…look, it's got a tiny little stem sprouting out of it, like an antennae."

"Hm…I've never seen anything like it before...I wonder what kind of a plant it's from?" wondered Emina.

Sin chuckled. "Well, don't lose it: we can show it to flower boy at school, maybe he'll know what it is."

Emina nodded. "Yeah, probably- hey! That's not nice!"

Sin laughed harder. "Aw, look at little Emi, stickin' up for her Prince."

"Yes, isn't it absolutely adorable?" a deep voice added.

Both girls jumped and looked around.

They were passing a vacant lot on their left, bordered by two abandoned tenement buildings. A trio of hardy-looking youths was seated on various parts of an abandoned car at the back of said lot. They were all around Sin's age, maybe slightly older, and were smiling in a way that sent a shiver up Sin's spine.

The guy in the center, a tall, broad-shouldered man with yellow-blonde hair straightened from his slouching position against the decrepit vehicle. "In fact, you two are just about the most adorable things we've seen all week, right boys?"

The two other men nodded. "Yeah, almost like a couple of dolls," remarked the one to his left, a tan man with a baseball cap and a muscle shirt that accented his delicious, rippling biceps.

"Especially the little one," sneered the last one, a black man with long dreadlocks, an orange coat, and no shirt, who was eyeing Emina hungrily.

The first man chuckled, walking forward. "You know, with the makeup and everything, the rosy cheeks, ruby lips, pale face…it's simply picture perfect. My dear, you are a living, breathing doll."

Emina gave the boys an icy smile. "Well, then you can just call me Talking Tina, how 'bout that?"

Dreadlocks laughed heartily and clapped his hands. "I like this girl! She's been watching The Twilight Zone on the teevee, and she has surely threatened to kill us!"

Blondie raised an eyebrow. "Oh did she? Well, that's not very nice, now is it? And we've only just met…"

Sin shook her head. "No, actually that's one of the nicest things she's ever said to someone she just met. I'd consider it a compliment, if I were you."

Emina shrugged. "It's true. Consider yourselves lucky." She and Sin turned to continue walking.

Three blurs filled the air. Blondie and Muscles were suddenly filling the sidewalk ahead of the two girls. Sin didn't have to turn around to know that Dreadlocks was blocking their escape going the other way. She blinked, confused: how had they moved that fast?

"What's the matter?" asked Muscles, innocently. "Leaving so soon?"

Sin glared at them. "Yes. We were." They turned to cross the street-

They both bumped into Blondie's towering frame. "I think not." He growled. The girls involuntarily took a step back.

Emina was glaring staring daggers at him. "Get out of our way."

Blondie took a small step closer. "You know," he said, running a finger down the albino's cheek, "I have a confession to make: I'm actually a bit of a…hobbyist. I got myself a little obsession that I cater to in my spare time. You wanna know what that is?"

Emina slapped his hand away, with surprising strength. "Don't touch me, or my friend. Ever."

"Ouch…" he said, feigning a hurt look. "You really are quite the little…_vixen_, aren't you?"

Sin didn't understand his strange emphasis on the word, but Emina gasped quietly. The man grinned, revealing two rows of abnormally sharp teeth. "Anyway, my hobby…you see, I'm a collector. I collect dolls, dolls of all shapes and sizes. Big ones, small ones, made of glass, porcelain, ceramic, even plastic. I collect 'em all and I keep 'em tucked away in a big glass display, on all these different padded shelves. It's really quite the achievement, if I do say so myself." He had inched even closer to Emina. "But you, little doll, are the prettiest one I've ever seen. You'd be, like, the crowning jewel of the whole collection. You'd even get your own box, safe from all the other, inferior figurines." He was so close that the girls were practically staring straight up to look at him. "C'mon." he said, quietly. "What do you say? I even have a spot for your cute little friend, so you won't be so lonely."

At the mention of herself, Sin was suddenly snapped out of the trance the man had caught her in. She reached out and shoved him back a step. "Get the fuck out of our face. I don't give a rat's ass about you or your sick little hobby." She started to step forward. "I'm gonna kill you, you stupid-"

A small arm stopped her unexpectedly.

She looked down, and found Emina calmly restraining her with a unyielding and firm arm. "Sin?" she said, quietly, "I want you to stay behind me, ok?"

Sin looked at her friend's face. She was staring straight ahead at Blondie, with an odd expression that Sin had never seen before.

Blondie laughed. "Aw, c'mon Doll, let her try. Just once. Here," he stepped up again and planted his feet, "I'll even give her a free shot. Go ahead, 'Sin,'" he said, grinning. "Hit me."

"Sin, don't-" but she couldn't resist: Sin drew back her arm…and kicked him in the crotch as hard as she could.

Her foot exploded in searing pain. It felt like she had kicked an iron bar with all her might. Her foot was broken, she was sure of it. She fell to the ground, screaming in agony, while Emina knelt down next to her, horrified, saying over and over, "I told you not to, I told you, I told you-"

Sin and Emina were suddenly lifted off the ground and sent hurtling back into the lot. Sin felt the wind rush out of her lungs as she hit the ground hard. They looked up to see Blondie following them, although a little stiffly, while Muscles and Dreadlocks doubled over in laughter.

"I gotta admit, Sin," said Blondie, wading towards them through the tall grasses, "That was a dirty trick. And it actually hurt a little. That was very impressive. I respect that kind of attack. Too bad you're a human, though-"

A small pair of black boots suddenly appeared in front of Sin's face, and a sweeping black coat all but obscured her vision as Blondie stopped mid-sentence. "If you were intelligent beings," said a new voice, "I'd advise you to leave now while you could still draw breath." The voice had an inherently sarcastic feel to it, like its owner was continually disgusted with the world at large.

Sin craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of the figure's face, but couldn't make out anything beyond the red lining of his cloak and a mass of spiky black hair.

The voice continued. "But you're not. You're not intelligent. You're not even slightly clever."

The man blurred. Sin blinked, and he was suddenly standing behind the three thugs. "So why bother?"

Sin watched, transfixed, as three heads slid slowly off three sets of shoulders, and three bodies hit the ground with a series of dull thumps, coming to rest in an expanding pool of blood.

The man began to walk towards the girls, as he cleaned his katana against his black pants. A slight breeze tousled his dark hair, and Sin noticed a silver starburst in the center of the gravity-defying hairstyle, which, under different circumstances, she would have laughed at. It looked as if someone had dropped a dollop of frozen yogurt on his head, spray-painted it black, spiked it up, and then put white streaks in it that formed a sort of jagged arch over his forehead. A bandage peeked out from under his bangs, and she stared at it curiously, before her eyes fell upon his entrancing, blood-red eyes…

As he adjusted his cloak to sheath his sword, Sin noticed a bandage wrapped around his right hand, and extending back under his sleeve. She idly wondered what he must have done to it-

"None of your business, onna," said the man to her, sharply, as he reached the two girls.

Sin sat up awkwardly, trying not to move her hurt foot. "Um, what's none of my business?" she asked.

He indicated his bandaged hand. "This. It's none of your concern."

Sin shrugged, then paused. She started to ask how he knew what hse had been thinking, but the man cut her off. "I'm a telepath, baka onna. Get used to it. There's someone I'm trying to find. You know him as Suiichi. Take me to him."

Emina was on her feet in a flash, and Sin was a little shocked to find that she stood about an inch taller than the man, unless you counted his ridiculous hair. By Sin's judgment, that put him at about four-foot-eight; again, unless you counted his hair.

"What do you want with Suiichi?" demanded the albino.

The man's eyes flared angrily. "I don't need to explain my reasons to you, you wretched child. Tell me where he is."

"And why should we tell you?" asked Emina, crossing her arms.

The man growled impatiently. "I don't have time for your games, girl. I just saved your life."

"Why? You could always find Suiichi on your own." she retorted.

"I could, which is why I'm more than willing to slit your throat if you don't tell me where-"

"Oh, it'll take a lot more than that to scare me, pint-sized."

"I don't suppose the trio of _corpses_ behind me means anything to you?"

"Please, those guys were trash."

"They seemed to have had _you_ rather outclassed."

"That was a lucky shot. I wasn't paying attention."

"Hn. Then I guess the bleach in your hair must be detrimental to your reaction time as well as your intelligence."

"It's not blonde, moron, it's silver. And at least my hair isn't an obvious attempt to make up for my ridiculously short legs-"

"Dammit, girl, tell me where Kurama is, or so help me I will-"

"Calm yourself, Hiei, I'm right here," said a cool, liquid voice.

Sin tore her eyes away from the small man and saw Suiichi leaning against the wall out near the sidewalk, watching the confrontation bemusedly.

The man he had addressed grunted a greeting without turning around. "You've always liked the dramatic entrance, haven't you, fox?"

Suiichi shrugged and strode forward. "I must admit, it has always been a sort of 'guilty pleasure' of mine."

The red-head reached the man called Hiei and Emina, who were standing so close their noses were almost touching, and gently pushed the two apart. If looks could kill, the two would have incinerated each other in seconds. "I do hate to break up the shouting match, but the smell of this place is starting to spread. I suggest we relocate to a more private setting before the authorities arrive."

"How 'bout my place?" offered Emina, whose death glare at Hiei had softened as Suiichi's hand had touched her.

Suiichi nodded. "That sounds fine. Is it far-"

Sin yelped in pain as she shifted her right foot.

Suiichi stepped quickly over to where she was sitting and knelt down. "Are you hurt badly, Sin?"

"Yeah," she growled as waves of pain rippled up her leg. "I…I think my foot is broken…"

The man called Hiei chuckled. "She kicked one of the apparitions in the genitals. Stupid onna."

Suiichi shook his head at her injury. "Well, walking with a broken foot is obviously out of the question."

He stood up. "Hiei will have to carry you."

The small man's eyes went wide. "What?"

Suiichi turned to him. "We're not going to leave her here amidst this carnage, Hiei. There's no telling what the authorities might do with her.

Hiei was unconvinced. "She's no concern of mine, Kurama. If she matters so much to you, you can carry her yourself." This comment stung Sin a little, although she couldn't put her finger on why.

Suiichi/Kurama shook his head. "I'll be carrying Emina. We'll travel faster that way." Emina blushed deeply, but only Sin noticed.

Hiei frowned and crossed his arms. "I'm not touching that wretched girl. If a mere physical injury is enough to render her completely helpless, then we'd be better off leaving her behind."

Sin bit her lip and fought against the hot prickle of tears that suddenly bubbled up. She felt weak and humiliated, and normally she would have hurt the man, but she could barely stand.

Emina immediately stepped forward to slap the small man across the face, but Suiichi grabbed her arm to prevent her. He turned to Hiei and raised an eyebrow instead.

"Hiei," he began, "I've known you for quite a long time now. You've managed to master hundreds of advanced, complex, and often secret combat techniques over the course of your life. You're the first demon in history to truly tame the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. You and I won the Dark Tournament together. You are probably the single greatest martial artist any of the three worlds has ever known."

He turned to look at Sin. "And yet, in spite of all that, you appear to have been utterly defeated by the prospect of having to carry this one small human girl; so defeated, in fact, that you are afraid to even _touch_ her-"

Before Sin could even blink, Hiei had crossed the distance between them, grabbed Sin roughly by the collar and hoisted her one-handed over his shoulder. Sin looked down the back of his cloaked frame, surprised that he wasn't even exerting the slightest effort to lift her. She found herself wondering how strong his shoulders and back muscles must be-

"Think anything I don't like," he muttered to her, "and I'll drop you in the gutter and never look back."

Sin bit her lip and tried to clear her mind.

Hiei turned around and she heard him say, "One of these days, Kurama, you're going to try that same, stupid trick, and I swear, I'm going to simply tear out your precious vocal chords and feed them to a snake."

She heard the red-head chuckle. "One of these days, old friend. One of these days…"


	6. Chapter 5

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

Sin leaned back on the couch, foot propped up on the coffee table, and willed the painkillers to kick in faster.

She was sitting in Emina's living room, in the small cottage she owned at the edge of town. She had been living on her own as long as Sin had known her, working all kinds of odd jobs to pay for her house, food, and clothing. But it didn't show, other than in the size of the cottage, which was about half the size of Sin's house. She had plenty of clothing, good food, and nice furniture, even a few art pieces hung up on the wall, although they tended to depress the viewer rather than lend any sort of atmosphere to the room.

She glanced across the room at the small man named Hiei, who was staring at a strange, striped painting, which much like the other paintings tastefully hung around the house were more likely to depress the viewer than lend any sort of atmosphere to the room. He was obviously unable to grasp its purpose.

"_Is_ there a purpose for this piece of garbage, onna?" he said to her abruptly, without turning his head.

Sin glared at him and began to mentally scream at him to stop reading her mind, for the love of God.

He glanced sideways at her. "I can as easily stop reading your thoughts as you can stop hearing people talk. It takes much more effort then I'm willing to waste on you, baka onna, although I'd be more inclined to try if you would stop staring at me."

Sin looked away from him, blushing slightly, as Suiichi came in and sat down in a chair across from her. "Emina called your parents" he said, "She asked them if you could stay the night, and that you were in the bathroom tending to a sprained ankle you acquired walking home from the mall. They seemed happy to let you stay. However, I suspect that you broke a couple of bones kicking that demon, so we're going to have to fix you up before your parents arrive."

The short man across the room gave an exasperated sigh. "Must you tend to these humans' every need, Kurama?"

Suiichi rolled his eyes. "Ignore the recalcitrant fire youkai in the corner."

Sin nodded, not bothering to mention that she'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to do just that since they left the lot. "Now will you please explain to me what the hell is going on?"

Suiichi began pulling his fingers through his hair. "I would first like to ask why you found this whole 'baiting' game to be a good idea. Wandering the city dressed like _that_," he gestured to Sin's rather flattering top, "is a rather risky proposition, wouldn't you agree?"

Sin brushed him off irritably. "Shut up. It's fun. And nothing like this has ever happened before: we've always been able to take care of ourselves whenever some idiot tries something. Now tell me what the fuck just happened!"

Suiichi pulled his hands away from his head, holding three different plant seeds in his hand. "Ew…" said Sin, scrunching her nose. "How long were those in your hair?"

He looked down at them, inspecting them. "Oh, anywhere from a week," he plucked up one seed, placing it on the table, "to a month," he placed a second seed beside the first, "to almost three years," he set a third seed beside the first two. "Although I really couldn't say for sure: I keep a steady supply of these particular seeds available, so individual units become lost in the tally. As far as healing capacity is concerned, all it can really do is mend bones; it does nothing but harm to the rest of the body. And there are plenty of other herbs that will repair bone damage and mend the muscles, so this little plant had become relatively obsolete as a medical tool. However, given the need for subterfuge, it would appear to have finally found a benevolent purpose-"

"Get on with it, fox!" snapped Hiei angrily.

The read-head glanced irritably over his shoulder. "Very well. Hold still, Sin-"

"Wait!" shouted Sin. "What the hell are you about to do to me?"

Suiichi turned towards the kitchen. "Emina, could you please bring me a sharp knife?"

Sin blanched. "W-What? Suiichi, what're you-"

The green-eyed boy placed his hand on Sin's leg. "Please, calm yourself. I am simply going to make a small incision in your foot, just enough to insert the seed-"

"What the fuck- ow!" she jerked her foot away from him involuntarily, sending shards of pain up her leg.

Hiei turned to look sharply at her. "This girl is afraid of a mere scratch, Kurama. Perhaps we should leave her as she is and stop wasting time."

Suiichi shot a warning glance at the black-clad figure. "She is my friend, Hiei. We will waste as much time as we need to."

Red eyes locked with green for a brief stare-down, which Suiichi won, before Hiei returned to scowling at the dreary painting. He sat back with a sigh. "Alright, perhaps if I explain a few things first, everyone will be a little more at ease." Hiei groaned in the background.

Emina came in, threw the requested knife into the table, and sat down on the other side of Sin's foot, examining it thoroughly. Suiichi paused as the knife's quivering slowed to a halt.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Emina." She nodded, curtly. He looked up and held Sin's gaze as he continued. "Everything I am about to tell you is true, despite what your rational mind will tell you. This is going to be rather hard to grasp at first, but some of the things you've seen today may help convince you.

"My name, my real name, is Youko Kurama, although in my human form, I go by the name Suiichi Minamino. I was not, in fact, born in this world, but on another, known as Makai, or Demon World, as was Hiei. There are two other worlds besides Demon world, which are Reikai, the Spirit World, and Ningenkai, the Human World."

"So…you're an alien?"

The boy chuckled. "No, not in the way you're thinking. These are not worlds within this universe: they are merely three worlds that occupy the same four-dimensional location in three separate universes. And I'm afraid the three are not exactly… comparable, either. Demon World and Human World are both considered "living worlds," while Spirit world is, well…the Spirit World."

"So it's, like, heaven?"

"Well…it's more like a train station. All demons and humans are taken there when they die. Their cases are then officially logged with Spirit World's bureaucracy, and they are sent to another point, where they await their sentence. Once their case has made its way through the immense system of filing, reviewing, and expert recommendation, it is sent to the desk of Prince Koenma, who decides their sentence, be it heaven or…elsewhere." He chuckled. "I have met with Koenma on several occasions, actually, and he is quite the…interesting fellow."

"That's a more positive spin on the little bastard's character than I would have used," commented Hiei, who was still skulking across the room, staring irritably at the painting.

"Anyway," continued Suiichi, "besides its use as a final resting place for every demon and human soul, Spirit World functions just like the other two. However, its society and technological levels are far more advanced, and it uses it's superiority to...influence the other worlds. It acts almost like a caretaker, keeping the worlds separate, minimizing the internal conflicts of both, and generally keeping things running smoothly."

"Wait," said Sin, "so Spirit World is, like, controlling us? Running our governments secretly and all that?"

There was a slight, disgusted sigh from Hiei as the red haired boy laughed. "No, no, not at all. In fact, King Enma has strict rules concerning that sort of thing. No, most of the things Spirit World is involved in concern keeping the demon immigrants in Human World from wreaking havoc. They have all but given up on trying to instill any amount of order in Demon World: the equivalent task would be trying to create a government of chimpanzees." He thought for a moment. "Actually, that is quite the apt metaphor: in general, the differences between humans and demons can be quite small genetically, like they are between humans and apes. By appearance and power, though, the two could not be more different. Like chimpanzees, the average demon is much more primitive, bowing to its primal instincts rather than it's rational mind." He smirked. "I like to believe I'm an exception to that standard. Anyway, like the chimpanzee, the average demon is also extraordinarily aggressive," he gestured surreptitiously at Hiei, "known to turn violent at the smallest of provocations, and to suddenly be overcome with an inexplicable bloodlust at the most unpredictable of times."

"Very funny, Kurama," muttered Hiei in a deadpan, without turning to face the group.

Sin saw Emina throw an irritated look at the black-haired man's back, before returning to the all-important task of not looking at Suiichi. Then she returned to the task of not looking at Suiichi.

"The average demon is also far, far stronger than the average human," continued the Suiichi, "much like the chimpanzee. Although in this case, the strength is not so much physical as it is…" he paused. "Interesting. There is no word for it. Well, let me give you an example. May I continue with mending your broken foot?"

Sin looked at him suspiciously. "You mean may you start to cut my foot up with a kitchen knife? I'm still kinda not believing any of this 'demon' bullcrap, so I'd rather see proof that it'll have any effect first, thanks."

Suiichi sighed. "Very well. All creatures, human or demon, have a certain amount of energy within their bodies. Not physical energy, but…a different energy. They can manipulate this energy in different ways, once they receive the proper training, to do many different things. Most demons use it for combative purposes, and it usually manifests in a manner that corresponds to the demon's nature, or its type. For instance, a fire demon, like Hiei, will use its energy for flame-based attacks; an ice demon will use ice-based attacks, and so on."

"So there are different types of demons?" asked Sin.

"Yes, many different ones. The presence of a demon's energy greatly warps the laws defining their genetics. Technically, all demons are members of the same species, but their looks can range from mammalian, to reptilian, even to plants or rocks. Yet they can all interbreed and produce fertile offspring." Emina turned slightly pink. "And technically, they are close enough in genetic makeup to humans that they can mate with them to produce offspring, although it isn't yet known whether these hybrids can, themselves, reproduce."

"So, assuming you are a demon, what type are you?" asked Sin.

"I am a Kitsune, a fox demon." Sin watched Emina out of the corner of her eye as the albino's eyes suddenly unfocused, giving her a vacant, dreamy expression, and barely managed to keep from laughing. "And how does _your_ power manifest?" she said, a little teasingly.

Suiichi's expression remained blank. "I can manipulate plants."

"Oh, right," she said, "that makes perfect sense." She found she was a little disappointed: Suiichi's little story had almost been believable, right up until that point.

"She doesn't believe you," called Hiei from his post by the painting.

Suiichi sighed. "Yes, thank you, I gathered that." He pushed a hand lazily through his hair, drawing out a new seed and holding it out in an upturned palm. As Sin watched, the plant suddenly sprouted and grew into a bouquet of white roses. He set them down on the table next to her leg.

Sin raised an eyebrow at the flowers. She'd seen stage magicians do better tricks than that. Was every magician supposedly a demon, too?

"She still doesn't believe you," said Hiei. Sin returned to her strong, angry thoughts about why Hiei shouldn't be reading her mind-

She paused as her train of thought derailed.

"She believes you now," called Hiei, without turning around. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Wait, wait," she said, "There is no way Hiei can read minds. That's impossible."

Suiichi shrugged. "It's not so impossible, really: I've met several skilled telepaths, ranging from those who could only sense vague emotions to those who are able to sense every action a person makes before they make it-"

"She wants proof, Kurama," said Hiei, finally turning to face the group. His blood-red eyes were boring into Sin's dark brown, gold-flecked ones. Sin noticed he still had his cloak on, even though they were inside-

"You're wondering why I'm still wearing my cloak, even though we're inside," he said.

She narrowed her eyes and stared back at him, mentally compiling a list, in descending order, of her favorite pizza toppings.

"Pepperoni, ham, pineapple, sausage, black olives, peppers…I don't even know what those are, and I already find them repulsive." He wrinkled his nose.

Sin furrowed her brow in concentration. One more test…

She thought about the dreams she'd been having. She looked smugly at Hiei, sure he wouldn't be able to guess at _those_.

Hiei squinted a little in concentration. "…Interesting…you've been dreaming of flying…through a night sky…there are many others flying next to you…you're chasing something…you want to kill it, even though you don't know what it is. You seem to be focusing on the fact that you have wings, and that you feel a level of bloodlust that disturbs you. Those are the main things that have been bothering you." He was smirking now. "That's quite a demonic dream you've been having, girl."

Suiichi looked at her expectantly.

Sin was a little stunned. There was no way he could have guessed all that.

After a moment, she turned back to Suiichi. "So…" she said weakly, "plants, huh?"

He nodded. "Yes. I find that my naturally messy hair is actually very convenient to store various seeds I find that might be useful in the future."

Sin was still a little rattled from Hiei's mind-reading, but one thought did occur to her. "You do shower, though, right? How does that work?"

Hiei chuckled. "Demons don't perspire, baka onna. We can use our energy to regulate our body temperature. That's why I'm still wearing my cloak."

Suiichi coughed. "Yes, while that may be true, Hiei, it still doesn't prevent dirt and filth from clinging to you. And in any case, I do still occupy a human form."

Hiei snorted. "Ah. I had forgotten your dependency on your human mother. Hasn't she let go of you by now?"

Suiichi gave him a half-smile. "You still haven't grasped some of the nuances of human culture, I see."

Hiei raised an eyebrow and ignored the comment. "So how _do_ you keep that fragile form clean?"

Suiichi looked uncomfortable. "Ahem, well, if you must know, I either meticulously remove each seed before I take a shower, or I use a hairnet to prevent losing my seeds down the drain-"

Sin laughed maniacally. "Oh, this is totally going on the internet…"

Suiichi sighed. "Of course it is…anyway, we need to get your foot fixed up. May I please get started?"

Sin was still skeptical of letting anybody deliberately cut her up with a kitchen knife. "Tell me what you're going to do, first."

Suiichi sighed at her stubbornness. "Sin, if we are going to properly work this subterfuge, I really must get started immediately."

Sin looked suspiciously at the long blade, but finally agreed. "Alright, go ahead."

Suiichi pulled the knife from the table, and held the point by the palm of Sin's exposed foot. "Alright, I'm afraid this is going to sting a little…"

He drew the blade quickly along Sin's foot. She yelped as blood began to seep from the line it left, dribbling slowly down towards the table. Sin found it strangely…arousing.

"Emina?" called Suiichi. "Emina!"

The albino snapped out of her reverie. "Yes dear- um, yes? What is it?"

Suiichi's face blossomed with a color that matched his uniform. "Erm, would you please run and grab some paper towels, please? We might need some real towels, too."

Emina nodded, sporting a facial hue that was closer to Suiichi's hair than to his uniform. "Sure. Be right back." She hopped up and sped from the room. Sin couldn't help but laugh.

The boy at her feet cleared his throat. "Yes, well, this next part will hurt quite a lot, and you may find it a little…unsettling."

He picked up one of the seeds he was holding, the one he said he may have had for three years, and held it over Sin's open wound.

Sin blanched and laughed weakly. "Ok, stop. I know what you're going to do. Stop!"

She tried to pull her foot back, but Suiichi's other hand had a firm grip on it. "Sin, you must remain still. This will only take-"

"No! You're going to stick that thing in my foot, aren't you? And then do something with it? No! Get the hell away from me!" she struggled harder, but the red-head's grip was unyielding.

"Sin, I know this is an unnerving concept, and it will hurt for a moment, but-"

"Nothing goes inside my body!" she shouted. "Nothing! No surgery, no needles, no nothing! Nothing gets inside my body!"

Hiei smirked. "Isn't that going to make mating rather difficult, onna?"

"Shut up!" she snapped, her face blossoming into a pretty blush, as she desperately tried to pull her foot away from the plant wielder who was currently holding it with both hands.

The read-head turned to the black-clothed man, erm, demon. "Hiei, the more she fights this, the longer we will be kept from solving whatever problem you have come with. Instead of making this more difficult, could you please try and help calm her down?"

Hiei pursed his lips, obviously irritated with the situation. Then, his figure blurred as he jumped lightly, cleared two chairs and the coffee table, and landed heavily on the couch, straddling Sin.

Her arms went up instinctively, but Hiei grabbed her wrists, pinning them above her head, using his body to pin hers down. His face hovered mere inches above hers and his blood red eyes held hers, and her struggling ceased, first from the shock, then from… something else.

"Listen to me, Sin," he growled, and Sin felt her heart jump as her name rolled off his tongue. "I have a very important matter I need to attend to. The more time you waste here, the harder that task becomes. You will shut up. Right. Now. Or I will shut you up myself, understood?"

Sin stared into Hiei's blood red eyes, her lips parted, ready to dare him to shut her up when...

She felt her fear dissipate and fade away. Like someone had tossed a veil over it, shrouding it from view.

She blinked. _Did you do that?_

Hiei's expression remained stern, but unreadable. "Get on with it, fox," he said, without turning his head.

Sin raised an eyebrow at the small man on top of her as Suiichi picked up the seed again. _What is it with you and not looking at the person you're talking to?_

Hiei gave indication he had heard her, and his eyes held hers in an unwavering gaze, and she felt a hot blush sneaking, unwanted across her cheeks.

Suiichi took the seed he was holding and firmly pressed it into Sin's bleeding foot.

Sin grunted as a nasty twinge sparked from the bottom of her foot. The twinge grew steadily into a full bonfire of pain as she felt the seed…sprout, inside her foot, sending root tendrils exploring through the muscles and tissue. She could feel them inside of her, wiggling around past her blood vessels, eventually reaching bone. Sin snarled and fought against Hiei's vise-like grip, heaving her well developed body against his muscular chest as the roots touched her broken bones. She could feel the plant sliding over them, underneath her skin.

Then, oddly enough, the pain…went away. She could still feel the plant inside her, and it still caused her to wriggle uncomfortably, but the pain vanished entirely.

She realized she had clenched her eyes shut. She opened them slowly. The first thing she realized was how close she and Hiei's faces were to each other-

Hiei bounced off of her immediately and landed down by her foot, throwing a sharp glare in her direction and then turning to look at Suiichi's handiwork.

The plant had, indeed, sprouted, and had grown a great deal, sending out shoots that had curled and wrapped around her foot like a loose, leafy cast. She could barely make out her own skin tones past the greenery, although that seemed a very…inaccurate description. The stems and rounded leaves of the plant were soaked with a dull, red liquid, Sin's own blood, and the shoots themselves had a vaguely-reddish quality about them. Her lower leg, surrounding table, and Suiichi's hands were also stained with blood, lending a very morbid ambience to the scene. Sin found it strangely alluring…

Suiichi had grown the second of the three seeds he'd laid out on the table, which turned out to be an aloe vera, a plant commonly used to fight infection. He had broken off a few of the spiky shoots and was applying their juices to Sin's open wound.

"This plant is called a deadly vetch," explained Suiichi, while his hands worked around the plant's base. "It feeds off of-"

"You planted a death seed in her foot to _heal_ her?" asked Hiei, who was completely taken aback.

"Wait, what?" said Sin, fear suddenly returning to her. "You stuck a 'death seed' in my _body!_"

"What!" Emina rushed back into the room, eyes blazing with several different emotions, confusion high among them.

Suiichi chuckled and raised his hands against the onslaught of accusing glares that surrounded him. "Perhaps I should explain a little more. The deadly vetch is a parasitic plant found only on Makai, Demon World. It can take some nutrients from the soil, but will only truly thrive if it takes root in an animal's flesh. It will continue to consume the host at a remarkable rate until the host is dead, whereupon it-"

"Get this fucking thing out of my foot right now!" yelled Sin, pulling her foot towards her to tear the plant out.

Suiichi grabbed her retreating leg and forced it back onto the table. "Please, you must hold still-"

"What, while this fucking thing eats me? I don't think so-" she shouted. Emina rushed forward to help her, but Kurama stuck out his arm to stop her.

"You must allow me continue," said Suiichi sternly, as Hiei smirked at the panicked girls. "Using my energy, I can control the plant's growth rate, allowing it to grow only as large as necessary, and preventing it from killing you in the process. An interesting trait of the deadly vetch is that it must find a secure place to anchor its roots, so that it will not come loose from its host as the flesh around it decays. The only possible option is to attach itself to the bones structure, but even that can be considered fragile in many respects. So it has developed a biological chemical that it releases through its roots that will greatly enhance the structural integrity of the bone it attaches to. This chemical creates a sort of cartilage cast around the bone, and simultaneously enters the bone marrow and bloodstream, traveling to the surrounding skeleton-"

"This explanation is taking far too long and is far too boring," said Hiei, crossing his arms.

Suiichi ignored him and gestured to the plant. "All I need do now is leave it for a few minutes, and, in theory at least, you bones should be healed."

Sin raised an eyebrow. "In theory?"

Suiichi smirked, a little cockily. "You should be aware that I invented the entire practice of deadly vetch medicine in the space of time it took to get you from the empty lot to this house."

Emina coughed, looking suspiciously at the plant wrapped around Sin's foot like a green snake. Sin noticed she still maintained contact with the boy's outstretched hand, which he seemed in no hurry to move "So, this might not work?"

Suiichi shook his head. "Oh no, it will definitely work. I'm just unsure of the long-term side-effects. To my knowledge, no one besides me has yet had a death seed grown within their body and lived, and my physiology as gone through several drastic changes since then that would have completely erased any side-effects."

Sin sighed and put her head in her hands. "So you're telling me you have no idea what this might do to me later on?"

Suiichi shrugged. "There really isn't much, barring an unforeseen reaction between your body and the chemical. And I'll try and monitor your condition as closely as possible for a while, if that's all right with you."

"Well, if I say no, I might die, so I guess it's alright." She shrugged, too.

"You may die anyway," interjected Hiei. "There's no telling what this little plant will do to you, let alone whether or not Kurama will be able to stop it."

Suiichi sat back. "Thank you for the words of encouragement, Hiei. Well, either way, this process will take a few minutes. Emina, would you be so kind as to fix us some tea? Emina?"

Sin looked up. The albino's eyes had wandered over to Suiichi's scarlet mane while her hands rested on his arm, and had glazed over, a sign that she was lost in her fantasies once again.

"What?" She snapped back to reality. "Oh! Yes, sure, one moment," she sputtered, as she rushed out of the room, pale face once again sporting a brilliant scarlet hue.


	7. Chapter 6

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

_…blood…_

_…blood…_

_…want blood…need blood…_

_…want…to feel blood…warm blood…taste blood…_

_…fly…flap…search…_

_…look for blood…_

_…find blood…find…_

_…there…blood…_

_…blood…_

_…catch…_

_…catch them…catch them kill them shred them tear them bite them drink their blood, blood, blood, blood, blood yes blood blood yes oh bleeding blood blood lots of blood of tasty blood blood yes blood oh yes dohyesohyesohaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-_

"-aaaaaaaaaah!"

Sin jolted upright, drenched in cold sweat. The sudden motion jarred her injured foot, causing her to shout again, this time in pain. She pulled her throbbing foot to her chest, curling around it in an attempt to dampen the pain. Unfortunately, she lost her balance, and fell off the bed onto the floor, where Emina was curled up on the futon. The albino awoke with a yelp, flipping over underneath Sin and launching the larger girl into the air with surprising strength.

Sin hit the ground beside her friend, feeling the air rush out of her lungs for the second time in less than a day.

Emina sat up, blood-red eyes flashing in the dark room. "Sin? What's wrong? What happened?"

Sin simply groaned in pain, weakly pushing herself up into a sitting position, and trying to refill her lungs with air.

Emina crawled over and quickly helped her friend up. "What happened? Another bad dream?"

Sin nodded, massaging her hurt foot.

Emina scooted next to her, putting a small arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry. Was it the same dream again?"

Sin nodded again, starting to get her breath back. "Yeah…same dream…"

She got a comforting squeeze from her friend and smiled. "Think…" she coughed, "think I fell on you by accident…"

Emina nodded and patter her shoulder. "It's alright, I'm fine. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad, lashing out like that."

Sin heard the door open, and the lights turned on. "Is everything alright?" asked Suiichi.

The two girls were momentarily blinded by the light. "Yeah," said Emina. "We're fine."

"Is the baka onna having another one of her little nightmares?" Hiei sneered, appearing behind the redhead.

Sin shot him a glare. "Shut up," she said. "I got out of bed for a glass of water and tripped on Emi." The telepathic demon raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

She lowered her eyes again, but a thought struck her. "Hey…" she said. "What are you two still doing here?"

"I've been checking your vital signs and body chemistry every four hours," said Suiichi, "So Emina politely offered to let me stay the night." He smiled at the albino, who smiled and shrugged, blushing slightly.

Sin nodded, blearily. She could remember Suiichi giving her some strange type of tea he'd whipped up from these weird plants…he'd said it was a heavy anesthesia, and that she would fall into a deep sleep so that he could remove the deadly vetch without hurting her. She looked down at her foot and, sure enough, the disgusting plant was gone, replaced by a thick white bandage.

She looked back up. "What about him?" she asked, indicating Hiei.

"I come and go whenever and wherever I please, girl. I wouldn't be here if Kurama had agreed to help me, but he insists on resting his frail human body whenever he isn't sticking his little plants into you or gazing stupidly at your friend's-"

"Sticking what in me?" asked Sin with exaggerated outrage, cutting off Hiei's rather embarrassing statement.

Suiichi gestured across the room, face turning slightly red.

Sin looked and saw an array of the strangest-looking plants she'd ever seen lined up on the other side of her bed, one with big, broad circular leaves, another that looked like a fern, and a third that was simply a mass of long, thin tubes jutting straight up into the air.

Sin felt the color drain from her face. "Um…have you been growing those in my body while I've been asleep?" she asked nervously.

Suiichi shook his head. "No, no, the winddrinker bush and the earthquake lily don't require any penetration of the skin. I use them to check your breath rate and heart rate respectively. The only plant that needed to enter your body was the vampire weed-"

"Are you fucking kidding me? First a 'death seed' and now a 'vampire weed?' What is it with you and the deadly plants?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiei smirk. "Did you know he fights with a rose?"

Sin laughed a little. "Really? Are you serious?"

Suiichi threw a sideways glare at the small demon next to him. "Yes, it is technically a rose, but it's a certain kind of rose, you see-"

"You fight with a flower, fox. No point in denying it."

Suiichi snarled in irritation. "I don't fight with it AS a flower, Hiei, I turn it into-"

"Into a what?" interrupted Sin. "A flower sword? With petals on the hilt and leaves all over it? Or no, I bet it's a big, flowery WHIP!" She laughed at the image.

Suiichi calmly raised an eyebrow. "Correct."

Sin's laughter caught in her throat. "Haha- wait, seriously?"

Emi looked up suddenly. "Hey! A flower whip's a good weapon! I think it's…um…cool…" She trailed off into embarrassed silence and looked back down again.

Suiichi looked down at her, maintaining a steady red color. "Um…thank you, Emi."

He clapped his hands unexpectedly, and Sin jumped. "Well," he said loudly, "It's just about five-o'clock. We might as well have some breakfast. What do you all want?"

Sin thought for a moment. "I'd like some toast, please. Toast and jelly."

"Eggs, scrambled. With a little bit of cheese," said Emina, not looking the red head in the eye.

Hiei glanced sideways at him. "I'd rather we were out hunting, fox, but if we must delay for food, then find me some meat, preferably raw and bloody."

Suiichi paused and returned the sideways look. "Indeed." He turned and walked out of the room. "I'll see what we've got available."

* * *

"So you sprained your ankle falling into a ditch?" asked Mal.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Sin, shifting her hurt foot's position on the hard concrete floor of the landing.

Mal winced in sympathy. "That must've hurt. This is why you two shouldn't go off alone on this 'baiting' game."

Emina, sitting next to him, raised a pale eyebrow. "Because tripping and suggestive clothing are totally related."

Sin chuckled. "Yeah, usually it's the other people that trip."

Mal opened his mouth to say something, and then thought better of it. "Alright, point taken. But still, you two really shouldn't be wandering the streets dressed like that. People will think all sorts of things about you."

Emi winked at him. "That's sort of the point, now isn't it?"

Mal rolled his eyes. "Anyway, so that's what you two were up to over the weekend. Where's Suiichi? My Othello skills need exercising."

Sin snorted. "Why? The never seem to improve."

Mal glanced between the two girls. "Ah, but aren't you two supposed to be training me, or something?"

Sin sighed. "Yeah, but we can't hit you for making a mistake if you're not even playing."

Mal reached over to his messenger bag, whipped out the game box, and set it down in front of him. "Then you can play me!" he said with a grin, gesturing at Sin.

Sin groaned emphatically: She hated board games. "Must I? I'm so tired…"

Mal's grin faded to a look of concern. "Still having those weird dreams?"

Sin nodded, sleepily, tossing him a look that said, 'I'd rather not talk about it.'

Mal nodded understandingly. "I'm sorry." He brightened up. "Well, play me anyway, 'cause if I make a mistake against you, you'll have a much more legitimate reason to hit me than if I lost to Suiichi. Where is he, anyway?"

Emina shrugged. "We don't really know. We ran into him over the weekend, and he said he'd met an old friend of his that needed his help. My guess is that he's off with this friend of his solving whatever the problem was."

Sin nodded. In reality, Hiei had practically dragged Suiichi out of Emina's house after he had finished making them breakfast, and they hadn't heard from him since. That had been two days ago. She was doubtful now that any actual harm could come to either of them, seeing as they were both literally superhuman, but she couldn't help but worry for both of them…

Both of them? She mentally shook herself. Why was she worried about Hiei? He'd seemed pretty capable of taking care of himself, and he didn't seem to give a damn about her. Why should she be concerned with his well being?

Because he's with Suiichi, and if he's in trouble, Suiichi's in trouble, or so she told herself. It was, at least, partially true: Hiei seemed like a much more capable fighter than Suiichi, so if things were going bad for him, then the red-head was probably in quite a bit of trouble, "rose whip" or no.

Still, though…She'd been noticing every little shadow all weekend, thinking it might be him. Every twitch of movement she caught out of the corner of her eye might have been his small, muscular body shooting by at incredible speed. Every glint of red became his angry crimson eyes…

And she couldn't help but dwell a little on how close their bodies had been on the couch…how he had simply reached into her mind and taken away the fear…how he

"Sin?"

She snapped back to reality, cursing the hotness that was spreading across her cheeks. "Yeah, what is it?"

Mal was eyeing her strangely. "We don't have to play if you don't want to…"

She shook her head irritably. "No, no, I'm focused," she lied. "Just tell me how to play, and we'll play."

Mal shrugged. "Right then…well, the rules are simple…"

* * *

Sin limped out across the school lawn several hours later, still cursing Mal's definition of "simple." That stupid game had been so complicated she'd eventually picked up the board and beaten Mal over the head with it, claiming her victory, before storming off in a huff.

Getting around the school had been murder. Sin had been limping on her hurt foot all day. She'd limped to every class, limped to her and Emi's locker twice, limped to lunch, to gym, through gym, everywhere. She'd been given a decent set of crutches to use for walking, but they just transferred the pain from her foot to her arms, so she only used them about half the time.

Sin managed cross the vast sea of grass in about ten minutes. Immediately upon stepping underneath the leafy canopy, she tossed the hated things aside and toppled to the ground, collapsing against the base of the tree trunk.

God she was tired…felt good to lie down finally…why was the trunk so squishy all of a sudden…?

"I see someone's had a hard day," said a familiar voice with a giggle.

Sin opened her eyes, and found her best friend sitting off to her left, pale-silver hair providing a backdrop for her deep red eyes, which were currently focused on a point just above Sin's prone form.

Sin looked up into a pair of vibrant green eyes, framed by a mass of messy red hair. A rather perplexed Suiichi stared back at her.

She sat up quickly and shoved the boy aside. "Bitch, quit hogging the tree," she said, covering her sudden embarrassment with her normal verbal abuse as she resumed her relaxed position.

Sin heard a burst of laughter from Emina, but her heart froze as a third voice chuckled softly off to her left. Her head snapped around to find the short, black-clad demon leaning against a low branch. A small part of Sin's brain noted his ability to stand comfortably underneath the short, leafy canopy.

"I take it your foot is still bothering you?" asked Suiichi, dusting himself off.

Sin nodded, massaging the foot gently and forcing her attention away from Hiei. "Yeah. It started hurting real bad a few minutes after I left Emi's house. I took some drugs for it, but it's basically been hurting for three days."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "You need to drug yourself to deal with physical pain? No wonder you humans are so weak: you've built up no pain threshold to speak of."

Kurama nodded, almost to himself. "Well, in this case, Hiei, I would strongly advise the painkillers: The chemical 'cast' covering her bones isn't going to dissolve that quickly, so it's probably still about six millimeters wider than normal."

Sin eyed her booted foot suspiciously. "That can't be good."

Suiichi shrugged. "Well, if you consider the fact that when I first removed the deadly vetch from your body, your bones were experiencing a diameter growth upwards of thirteen millimeters, I'd say this is a marked improvement."

"…I see," said Sin blankly. "Changing the subject, then, before I freak out: I had two questions regarding your little…explanation on Friday."

Suiichi chuckled. "Yes, I thought you might. The existence of multiple universes does tend to confuse people upon first learning about it."

Sin shook her head. "No, I'm not really confused about anything, there's just a couple things I still want to know."

Hiei scowled. "You do realize that by telling you anything, Kurama has already violated Spirit World law?"

Sin cleared her throat. "Well, that's kind of my point: I was wondering why, out of the three worlds, human world isn't allowed to know about the others. I mean, if you're fine letting demons know, then what are you afraid we're going to do?"

Hiei glared down at her. "You imply that demons are, by definition, inferior to humans, baka onna. Amend this now."

Sin's eyes widened, realizing too late her faux pas. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"In order to maintain any kind of objectivity, you must first be able to consider all three worlds as equal," said Suiichi, in a concerned tone. "If you fail to do that, all of your opinions will inevitably be biased and skewed."

Sin looked down, feeling rather embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she said, lamely. It seemed a rather insufficient apology for having just insulted an entire race.

Surprisingly, Suiichi laughed. "Truth be told, as far as a certain…strength of character goes, demons generally rank far below humans." He gestured over his shoulder at Hiei. "As I explained previously, they tend to be violent, aggressive, and completely amoral in regards to ending the life of another individual. In fact, the current government of Makai consists solely of a dictator being 're-elected' every three years by way of a worldwide tournament. The last man standing, after about six-thousand others around him have fallen, gets to run Makai for another three years."

"…Wow…" said Sin.

"Might I add that this inane process was thought up by a human boy?" snarled Hiei.

Suiichi nodded. "Indeed…there are many school of thought that suggest that humans and demons are not so different, psychologically speaking. However, arguably the most important difference between them is the relative population. In fact, out of all three worlds, humans contain the single largest population of individuals, by a factor of a thousand at least. Were they to learn of these other worlds, they would inevitably try to follow the standard course of their history: they would set out to conquer and colonize, to make the three worlds their own. They would overrun Makai and Reikai through sheer numbers. So, as a precaution, they are simply kept from knowing that the worlds exist."

Sin nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"Spirit World seems to think so," said Suiichi with a shrug. "Now, what was your other question?"

"Oh! Right," Sin had almost forgotten. "What should we call you?"

The boy looked confused. "What?"

"You said you had a demon name, I forget what it was, started with a K…Kurama, I think?"

"Oh, right, yes," said the red-head. "Well, I have gone by both names fairly equally over the past decade or so, so either will work. However, in the presence of others, I must ask you to use my human name, Suiichi Minamino. When we are more alone, though, such as within this tree, you would be free to choose whichever form you want."

Sin thought for a moment. "Hm…Kurama is a lot easier to say that Suiichi. Easier to spell, for that matter."

Suiichi/Kurama nodded. "That would be fine."

Sin nodded proudly. "From now on, we shall call you Kurllama.

Kurama nodded, not quite listening. "Yes- wait, what?"

Sin giggled mischievously, as did Emina, although she still wouldn't look up at the boy.

Hiei furrowed his brow. "I fail to understand."

Sin stopped giggling and shook her head. "Never mind, we're just teasing." She suddenly remembered something. "Oh, so speaking of you, Hiei, what's this big problem you've been having? And why are you here with us instead of out somewhere trying to fix it?"

Hiei took on a look of irritation, which slid quite naturally across his face. "If it were up to me, Kurama and I would be working tirelessly and without rest until I found the man I'm looking for. However, his fragile human body seems to need sleep after a mere twenty-four hours. We'd be out now, working, if he didn't find it so utterly necessary that he sit here and chat idly with you two."

Kurama looked down uncomfortably. "I, um, just felt that we'd been working rather hard for several days now, and it would be best if we took a break. That's all."

Hiei snorted. "I'm sure."

Kurama turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "Hiei, we picked apart half of the country in less than forty-eight hours. I consider that rather impressive, even by our standards. And if you still don't think we're moving fast enough, you could always continue your search alone."

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence. Sin broke it. "Um, so who exactly are you looking for?"

Hiei's fiery red eyes locked with hers. "It's none of your business, onna."

Emina looked up sharply. "You know, if you were maybe, I don't know, nice for once, we might consider trying to help you."

Hiei rounded on her. "I don't need your help, human. What possible use could you be?"

Emina glared at him. "I don't know, demon. But if you need Kurama's help so badly, then you obviously can't do this on your own."

Hiei returned the albino's red-eyed glare with his own. "I need Kurama's help because he's capable of subtlety. If you're unfamiliar with the term, I suggest you look it up. It generally requires something resembling intelligence."

Emina got to her feet, snarling. "I know what subtlety means, shrimp. It's a term for people who _don't_ use forty gallons of hair gel to try and add-"

"If the next words out of your mouth displease me in any way, you will not live to see the end of this sentence."

Emina paused, then started to open her mouth again, but Kurama raised his arms, cutting off the argument. "Perhaps," he said quietly, "it would be best if you at least told them who you're looking for." He paused, and then added quietly, "You would only need to tell them who."

The short, black-cloaked demon and the albino continued to lock gazes of hatred for a moment. Then Hiei closed his eyes. "Alright. Have it your way." He said calmly.

He sat down, as did Emina.

Hiei opened his eyes again. "I am looking for a man. Human, by his own description. Roughly five-foot-ten, dark blonde hair. He was wearing a long brown coat and carried a heavy walking staff, about five feet long."

There was a long, awkward pause.

"Well that was anticlimactic," said Sin, although something about the description was nagging her. "I was expecting a big long, 'I first saw this man over a thousand years ago' kind of monologue. Got anything else besides a description that would fit a good third of the world's population?"

Hiei glowered at her. "Nothing you would find helpful, human, unless you've discovered how to access your spirit energy, and judging by your distinct lack of knowledge about the spirit world, I believe it's safe to assume you haven't."

Sin sighed at the small demon. "Dude, just tell us. The more we know, the more we can help find this person. Unless you really would rather search alone."

Hiei growled in response, but continued. "He has a very peculiar energy signature. If you were able to sense energy around you, you would know if you'd seen him. Because he doesn't have one."

"Every living being has an energy signature," explained Kurama. "it's a certain...pattern to their internal energy, be it demon or spirit, that is unique to them, like a fingerprint. What's so significant about this man is that...well, it's not that his energy is so weak it can't be felt, because in that instance, you'd feel a certain hole in the ambient energy of the environment where their energy signature should be. With this man, from what Hiei tells me, it's that he has no energy signature at all. There is no definable break between him and the surrounding environment. As far as energy is concerned, he doesn't exist."

Emina raised an eyebrow. "So…how do you find someone that doesn't exist, exactly?"

"Oh, he exists, girl," snarled Hiei, with so much malice it actually made Sin shiver involuntarily.

"According to Hiei," continued Kurama, "this man generates a sort of static that blocks Hiei's…extra abilities. First, we have Hiei scan the energy signatures of everyone within a five-hundred-meter radius. Then, we-"

"Scan what now?"

Everyone's head snapped towards the sound as Mal ducked under the leafy dome, stuffed messenger bag slung comfortably over one shoulder.

Sin knew pretty well that, at that very moment, everyone under the tree was suddenly struck with the realization that no one had told Mal any of this yet. Sin's mind was flooded with a hundred different thoughts, most of which were concentrated on a single point: good lord, how are we going to explain all this to him?

However, none of those questions were able to be answered, because a single, small observation cut through all of them like a hot knife through butter:

About five-foot-ten, dark blonde hair, carrying a staff.

"YOU!"

Before anyone could so much as blink, Mal's form disappeared backwards through a new hole in the tree's leafy walls.

Hiei stood where Mal had been, drawing back an outstretched fist. Sin couldn't see his face from where she was sitting, but she could practically feel his rage. Dimly, she was aware of the distant thud of Mal's body colliding with the school building almost a hundred yards away.

Kurama leapt up. "Hiei, don't, he's not the man you're-"

His flying tackle connected with air as Hiei blurred. The canopy flew open for a moment, and then folded back again.

The three young people got up as fast as they could, and swiftly exited the tree, Sin limping badly. They got their bearings just in time to see Hiei reach Mal.

The latter had left cracks in the brick wall he'd connected with that were visible even from this distance, and he was currently sprawled awkwardly on the cement. As he struggled to rise, Hiei reached him at speed, delivering a sprinting kick that sent the blonde-haired youth rebounding of the wall again, increasing the amount of cracks and sending him rolling back across the grassy field.

Hiei jumped, bounced lightly off the wall, and sped through the air back towards his target. Mal barely managed to roll out of the way as the smaller man's fist as it collided with the ground with a thundering impact. The shock wave alone sent Sin to the ground as it jarred her hurt foot. She saw Mal fly into the air as she went down.

By the time she sat up, Kurama had finally come to his senses, and was sprinting across the field at high speed towards the combatants. Hiei had withdrawn his fist from the ridiculously-large blast crater it had left, and Mal was shakily trying to sit up some distance away, still wearing his bag.

Kurama was about halfway across the field when Hiei tore off his cloak for better mobility, and shot forward again. Sin felt her heart flutter against her will at the sight if his small, chiseled torso. She also noticed that the bandage on his right hand and arm ended at about the elbow.

Mal had just managed to remove his battered satchel when the half-naked midget reached him, throwing a right cross into his jaw that sent the former hurtling backwards across the grass.

"You know," said Emina, distantly, "if you hit a normal person in the head hard enough to send them flying that far, their head would come off."

As Mal rolled to a stop, struggling to right himself, Hiei blurred, appeared behind him, and slammed a bandaged fist into the back of his head, driving Mal's face into the ground.

"So since Mal's still intact," muttered Sin, just as distantly, "then…"

"Then he's not a normal person," finished Emina.

That same hand then hauled him upright and held him in position for a wicked left hook that sent the boy flying backwards into Kurama, who was knocked to the ground. The redhead recovered quickly as Mal rolled to a stop once again, and stepped between him and Hiei.

"Hiei, you have to stop," he yelled. "There must be some mistake. Mal couldn't have-"

He lunged, but missed Hiei's blurred form as the fire demon sped past, blind with rage. He leapt towards his target, to deliver another devastating punch, but Mal had finally gotten to his feet, and was able to leap away as Hiei threw another earth-shattering punch into the ground.

Mal landed lightly on the ground. The fight had drawn closer to the two observing girls, and Sin could now make out a bit more detail: namely, that Mal was obviously limping and covered with blood, a bit of which he now spat out.

He looked up, and Sin saw his mouth smirk and his brown eyes narrowed at his opponent. "Alright, I don't know who you are, or what exactly your problem is, but if we could please just talk for a moment, no one would have to get hurt."

Hiei chuckled maliciously. "Ah, but that won't do, now will it? If I'm to properly repay you for your-"

A movement caught her eye, and Sin looked up to see Kurama, back on his feet, thrust his hand forward. All around Hiei, the grass suddenly grew up into hundreds of thick, green ropes, wrapping the small figure from head to toe. Hiei let out a cry of surprise, then a roar of rage as he ripped apart his organic bindings.

"Back off, fox," he yelled. "This bastard is mine!"

More green ropes shot up out of the ground around Hiei as Kurama, reached back into his scarlet mane. "Hiei, please," he called, "You are mistaken, I promise you. This is not the man you're looking for!"

His hand reemerged from his hair bearing a small, red rose as Hiei tore an arm free of the assaulting vegetation, and slammed it hard into the ground. A ring of flame erupted around him, burning through the grass in an instant and scorching the earth clean of it within a five-meter circle around him.

The fire burned off Hiei's bandages, as well, and Sin couldn't contain a gasp of shock.

Hiei, now completely free of bandages, had revealed two things: one was a winding, black tattoo along the length of his arm in the shape of a dragon. And the other…was a third eye.

Planted smack in the middle of his forehead, an enormous, almond-shaped purple eye glared out at Mal, burning with equal fury to the other two eyes. Sin felt her skin crawl as she involuntarily began to think about how that eye would feel, wriggling around in the center of her forehead.

Suddenly, another green rope hit Hiei, this one covered with thorns, wrapping up his tattooed arm and holding it fast. Sin looked to see Kurama on the other end of it. "I'm going to tell you once more," he said, straining against Hiei, who was attempting to pull free. "You must stop this, before-"

He was cut off by Hiei, who gave a tremendous tug on the vine, sending Kurama flying towards him. Hiei drew his katana with is free hand. "I said. Back. _Off!_"

The blade impaled Kurama's airborne form with a sickening squelch, passing all the way through his body. Sin heard Emina scream as Hiei tossed the green-eyed youth aside, blade still lodged in his stomach. Hiei raised his wrapped arm and glared at the thorny vine. It incinerated almost instantly.

Emina sprinted down to help the stricken redhead as Hiei turned back to Mal. "Alright, you bastard, time to finish this."

Sin looked over at Mal, who was looking back at the small fire demon calmly. "Fine. Have it your way."

He thrust his arm out to the side. Sin watched as a dull glow formed under his down-turned palm, and then grew into an orb of light so glaringly bright she had to shield her eyes. When the glow faded, she looked back up to find Mal holding what looked like an old wooden broom handle. A second flash flared up on his back, and a flimsy, home-made sheath appeared, made of an old piece of pipe, some duct-tape, and a belt.

Hiei took that as a signal to resume the attack, and charged towards Mal with impossible speed, covering almost forty yards in the blink of an eye. There was an earsplitting crack as the small man's fist broke the sound barrier-

And connected with air. Sin watched as Mal leapt easily over the fire demon. As he somersaulted away, a third flash engulfed his staff. When he landed, it was different: about four-feet long, painted bright white, with a metal stud on each end. The sheath on his back was now a compact, sleek piece of black metal, with a study leather strap.

He stood up and turned to stare down at Hiei with a pair of bright, confident blue eyes Sin had never seen before. "Alright, tiny," he jeered in an unfamiliar voice, "I'm gonna give you one shot to tell me exactly why you're tryin'a tear my head off."

Hiei smirked without any trace of joy. "Simple. I'm going to tear it apart and feed the pieces to a hate fish."

Mal snorted and folded his arms. "Wow. That's harsh, man. What'd I do to deserve that?"

If it was possible, Hiei's eyes showed even more anger than before. "What did you do? _What did you do?_ You killed Mukuro you son of a _bitch_!"

A blur shot across the field towards Mal, and Hiei was immediately on top of him. With unprecedented agility, Mal dodged the first blow and struck out with his staff, catching Hiei in the temple and sending him tumbling away. Sin's eyes followed his airborne form as it landed, recovered, and shot back towards Mal, who blocked his first attack again, but missed the second, which hit him in the shoulder and spun him around in almost a full circle. Mal used the momentum to whirl around and slam the end of his staff into Hiei's chest.

Hiei rolled upright again, unfazed, but did not advance. His eyes blazed with anger, and his third one was giving off such a violent purple glow it was sending shivers down Sin's spine, as was the electricity arcing around his tattooed arm.

Mal eyed the small figure warily and dropped into a fighting stance, slipping his staff into its sheath and sliding both hands down to his hip. "Look buddy, I ain't seen Mukuro even once my whole life." he said in a warning tone. "Last I heard, she was patrolling the edges a' Demon World lookin' for anybody that wasn't supposed to be there. If somethin's happened to her, I'd be more'n willin' to help out. But you'd best be standin' down, or I'ma have to end this right now."

Sin glanced between the two. What the hell was going on?

"Hiei, don't do it…" Sin looked around. Kurama was, miraculously, standing, with a distraught Emina attempting to support him. There seemed to be some black things in her hair, which was swinging down behind her like a tail, but the sword protruding from Kurama's front and back, dripping with blood, created such a strange sort of allure for Sin that she paid it no mind...

Hiei grinned evilly, ignoring his friend. "Please, allow me the pleasure of ending this…"

He raised his right arm, still sparking with purple bolts of lightning. If Sin didn't know better, she would have sworn the dragon tattoo was writhing around on its own. "_Dragon,_" he shouted,"_of the Darkness Fl_-"

"Hiei, don't!" she shouted. She had no idea what he was about to do, but the sharp pain she felt in her heart every time Mal or Hiei took a hit told her this fight needed to stop.

And against all odds, Hiei did stop, arm halfway forward into some kind of attack. His head snapped around to look at her, his three-eyed stare presenting her with an expression she couldn't quite place.

"_Nova Beam_!"

Everyone turned to look at Mal, who had thrust his hands forward.

In the instant it took, Sin saw his palms erupt in yellow light, creating a sphere several meters in diameter. The sphere produced a beam of light, of a similar size, which shot towards Hiei and slammed into him with an earsplitting bang.

The combination of the flash and the sound completely disoriented Sin for a moment. When she came to, she found an enormous, charred line extending away from Mal, across the field, and stopping at the school building, which had finally given way under the continued assault. Sin could barely make out Hiei's prone form atop a small pile of rubble just inside the wall.

She turned back to Mal, who turned a brown-eyed gaze on her.

"Thanks for that," he said, leaning heavily on his five-foot broom handle. "Now will someone please explain to me why I just got my ass kicked?"


	8. Chapter 7

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Earth Sector 1?"

Mal nodded, slowing his pace to match Kurama's and the albino supporting him. "Yep: Japan, the Koreas, and Eastern China. It's the area with the weakest barriers between the worlds, so a lot of things get through here."

Sin gratefully matched her pace to Mal's, shrugging her shoulders to alleviate the discomfort of the crutches wedged under her arms. "I'm confused…"

"I am, too," added Emina, peering around Kurama's chest, her face tinged slightly pink as the boy's arm was slung around her shoulders as she helped him down the street.

Mal massaged a bright purple bruise along his jaw line thoughtfully. "Alright, so Kurama already told you about the three worlds…turns out, even though humans are kept from knowing about Makai or Reikai, no one is really allowed to traverse freely, demon, human, or spirit, unless they're on official business- woah, watch it!" He reached out to catch Sin as she lost her balance and nearly fell on top of her, as the fire demon he was carrying slipped across his back.

"Thanks," she muttered, mentally cursing the stupid cast she was wearing.

Mal raised an eyebrow. "Should you even be walking on the sprained ankle?" he asked, holding up the crutches she'd thrust upon him.

"It's fine," she repeated insistently, trying to ignore both the aching pain in her foot and the deceptively small fire demon in her arms. "Tell me, though, how come _you_ get to know about the three worlds when nobody else does?"

Mal smirked. " 'Cause I'm special like that."

Sin slugged him in the gut instinctively.

"Seriously, why do you know?" she demanded as Mal nearly doubled over on the pavement amidst hysterical laughter from Emina and a quiet chuckle from Kurama.

"…Mind the cracked ribs…" groaned Mal as he straightened up stiffly. "Haven't I taken enough of a beating already from the little maniac on my back?"

"Answer the question."

"Alright, alright," Mal conceded, picking up his explanation where he had left off earlier. "So, inter-world traffic is very restricted, but there are a lot of demons that would _die_ for the chance to get into Ningenkai. Up until quite recently, this thing called the Kekai Barrier had been raised, which kept most demons were held securely within their own world. However, the primary purpose of the barrier is to keep out the very strongest demons, so it was actually possible for a few weaker demons to slip through the barrier's netting and enter Ningenkai. The one snag was that the demon still had to be strong enough to break through the natural barrier between the worlds, and for the most part, the two barriers overlapped in strength. There were still a couple of spots, though, where a demon small enough to slip the Kekai netting was still strong enough to break trough to Ningenkai, and one of the prime breakthrough points is actually here, in Japan. So, naturally, the person meant to guard against these demons was chosen from Japan, allowing a single person to feasibly defend the entire planet while still maintaining a normal lifestyle. This person was called the Spirit Detective."

"At the time, the term Spirit Detective was a little misleading," said Kurama.; "Really, we were simply strong, capable fighters who went where Koenma told us to and defeated whatever opponent we came up against."

Sin looked back at him, curiously, as the group stopped at a crosswalk. "You were a spirit detective, Kurama?"

He nodded, and was about to continue when Mal glanced back over his shoulder. "Hang on, you're Kurama? As in _Youko_ Kurama?"

The green eyed youth nodded with a smile. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Mal blinked several times, then turned to look at his cargo. "So this would be Hiei…like, _the_ Hiei…"

Kurama nodded again. "That's correct."

A few moments passed. Sin could practically see the gears in Mal's head whirling away. "So…so when he started to attack right before I shot him, he was about to fire the Dragon of the Darkness Flame…"

"Indeed he was," answered Kurama gravely.

A few more moments passed. "Well…" said Mal quietly, "That would have been unfortunate…"

He suddenly shook his head violently. "Anyway, I should continue."

The light changed, and the teens proceeded across the street, drawing several curious and concerned looks. "Yes, Kurama was a member of the Spirit Detective team, the one that was active when the Kekai Barrier dropped. After the first two detectives didn't work out, Koenma decided it would be a better idea to sponsor a team, rather than just a single person, to relieve some of the stress on the actual Spirit Detective himself." He glanced over at Kurama, who nodded.

Sin looked between the two boys. "So did you two know each other already? Maybe not as Suiichi, but as Kurama?"

Mal shrugged. "Well…it's more like I knew _of_ him. The core members of that team are pretty well-known among us Spirit Detectives: Yusuke, Kuabara, Hiei, and Kurama."

Sin glanced skeptically at the body she was carrying. "Seriously? Hiei was a "Spirit Detectives?" The first thing he did when he met Emina and me was to threaten us with death…

Kurama chuckled quietly. "His stint as one of human-kind's defenders was not by choice, you understand, at least not at first. In fact, it wasn't for either of us: Yusuke was the actual Detective, and his first case was to track down the two of us, along with a third demon, for stealing three powerful artifacts from Spirit World."

"…So you're a criminal?" asked Sin after a moment.

Kurama looked down. "Well, not as such, not anymore-"

Mal interrupted, laughing. "Not just any criminal: he was widly considered to be the single greatest thief of all time."

Sin's eye's widened at that as Mal turned to her. "See, our friend Suiichi is actually a bit over a thousand years old. He's only had his human form for about 18 years, but before that, he was known more widely as Youko, the spirit fox, and if he hadn't been tagged by a lucky shot about 18 years ago, he would still be committing the most amazing thefts any of the three worlds has ever seen."

Emina laughed this time. "You seem pretty interested in his history, Mal. Got a bit of a man-crush on him?"

Kurama glanced over at her, amused. "All modesty aside, I was quite skilled at my trade less than two decades ago. But after I was injured, I took refuge in an infant child's body to recover my energy. That body is the one you see before you." He shrugged. "The body was well-enough developed that the Youko and Suiichi personalities…blended, in a way. I can honestly say that Youko is a different person from the Kurama talking to you. Now, I'm trying to put my life of crime behind me. You might say the change of body came with a change of heart."

Sin raised an eyebrow. "Very poetic. What about Hiei?"

"Hiei's famous in Makai as the only being ever to have mastered the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, quite possibly the single most powerful technique in history," said Mal. "Beyond that, I don't know much about him."

The red-head shrugged helplessly. "Beyond that, no one knows. We know he was born to a female ice demon that'd had an affair with a fire demon, and that he spent most of his life prior to my knowing him as a sadistic bandit that killed everyone he met. He has a twin sister named Yukina, whom he finally found a few years ago after decades of searching. That third eye of his came about sometime during the nebulous forty years or so that we have no record of. Beyond that, he was quite the recluse before I met him, so the only way to learn anything more is to hear it from him. And he's not exactly the social sort."

"So how exactly did you both end up working for the good guys?" asked Sin.

"Well, actually, I only helped steal the artifacts from Spirit world so I could heal my mother, who was deathly ill."

Emina couldn't contain a quiet "Aw…"

Kurama continued, seemingly oblivious to her, as the group rounded a corner. "Yusuke actually helped me with that matter: had I used the artifact as intended, it would have killed me. I was very grateful, and afterwards I returned it willingly. I later repaid the debt by taking a sword wound in Yusuke's stead as we attempted to capture Hiei, who had stolen the other two artifacts in a world-domination plan that could, at best, be called "absurd." Koenma ended up suspending our sentence as long as we agreed to become a part of Yusuke's team-"

"Wait, wait…Koenma…" asked Emina from beside her green-eyed charge, "As in, Prince Koenma? He's your boss?"

Mal winced. "Eh, I really don't like to think of it that way…but yeah, I suppose he is. He's more like my employer. See, now that the Kekai Barrier is down, a lot more demons are able to cross over from Makai. At the time, nobody important enough seemed to realize that even with their new 'elected government,' demons are still demons: violent, aggressive, and completely disdainful of authority."

"In order to maintain any kind of objectivity, you must first be able to consider-" said Sin, quoting Kurama.

"Oh hush," said Mal. "I get paid to find demons and beat the tar out of them, how objective am I supposed to be?"

"More objective than that," said Emina, a little darkly. Sin glanced at her best friend, and found that for once she couldn't tell what was on her mind. Disconcerted she turned away, refocusing on the conversation in front of her.

"Koenma pays you?" asked Kurama, a little shocked.

Mal nodded. "Yes he does."

There was a moment's silence. Mal glanced back at Kurama. "Wait, did he not pay you guys before?"

Kurama looked away, a glint of irritation shining in his emerald eyes.

Mal looked pained. "That's not right…

Kurama turned back and shook his head. "There was really no need to. As I said, we weren't really doing real detective work."

Mal looked disbelieving. "I've seen some of the footage from your fights, Kurama. You ended that fight with Karasu bleeding from head to foot." Emina gasped and looked up at the red head. "I mean, I couldn't even make out the color of your clothing anymore…and yet he didn't pay you for _anything_?"

Kurama shrugged slightly, and winced. "Well, he may not have 'paid' us, precisely, but my work for the detectives was in exchange for my freedom: I had accumulated quite the list of charges during my time as a thief, so I suppose it was a fair trade."

"Anyway," said Sin firmly.

Mal coughed. "Right, so," he continued. "After the Kakai Barrier went down, all sorts of demons began making there way into human world, way too many for one person or team to contain. So Koenma had to draft multiple people, all over the globe, to deal with them. Now there are twelve Spirit Detectives, with divided territories, each covering a certain section of the globe. I'm in charge of sector one, here in Japan, so named because the natural barriers between the worlds are weakest here. There are a couple of other differences, too: we get paid now, sorry Kurama, and we operate more independently of Spirit World. We don't get as much information on the demons as the old detectives did, but we also don't have to jump through hoops just because Koenma says so. We simply have to find demons or other inter-world criminals. And basically, that's my job: I hunt down demons that have gotten into Human World and demand they show proper permissive papers. These papers state the explicit terms of their presence in this world, and all of them have Koenma's stamp of approval and give off a unique energy signature. If they don't have their papers, I have to arrest them and send them to Spirit World for processing."

Sin nodded as the approached Emina's cottage. "Sounds like fun."

Mal laughed, flexing his bruised jaw and massaging his ribcage. "Sometimes, Sin, I find this job can be a little too much fun, as it were…"

* * *

Sin stared down at the small demon's sleeping form and tried to force her heart to stop racing.

"Ready?" asked Kurama in the dimly-lit room.

Sin looked over at the read head, illuminated faintly by the fading daylight filtering through the window. He was holding what looked like a leafy green balloon with a set of vines protruding from it and looking at her expectantly.

Sin gulped, wishing for the millionth time that she'd gone home like Mal had, instead of asking to stay over at Emina's that night. She hadn't counted on the fact that Kurama would want to take more blood samples of her, although she half-suspected that it was just an excuse to stay with Emina.

"Yeah…" she said, nervously, dreading what the boy was planning to do with that disgusting plant, whose vines seemed to be moving and swaying completely on their own. "Just…just gimme a moment…"

The red-head cleared his throat. "Um, I must ask why you decided we should do this in here…it's very poor lighting, and we'd be better off not disturbing Hiei."

Sin glanced back at the small, shirtless form on the bed, and sighed quietly. A few days previously, when Kurama had been trying to stick her full of alien flora, Hiei had somehow managed to simply take away her fear. Sure, he'd been threatening her life and pinning her to the sofa at the same time, but still…she'd looked into his eyes and felt her fear fade away, like it had been drawn into those deep, crimson orbs and incinerated…

She felt herself blush hotly, and was suddenly thankful for the dim light. She thrust out her arm to Kurama. "Alright, just do it."

"This will probably sting…" He warned, as Sin focused her gaze intently on Hiei, trying to recall that feeling of smooth, blanketing calm. And oddly enough, she could swear she felt it working. She carefully thought her way around the idea of needles, and her skin didn't start to crawl like it normally would. It was as though Hiei was inside her mind again, shutting down the phobia with his crimson eyes…

She felt Kurama's gentle but firm grasp on her arm for a moment, and then a sharp prick.

The feeling of a foreign body wiggling about inside her flesh brought the faded phobia sprinting back hurriedly, determined to make up for the time it had lost while it was away.

Sin felt her throat clench up and a blood-curdling scream swelled up in her chest, but a strong hand suddenly clamped over her mouth, catching the scream before it could escape. "I would strongly advise against that," Kurama whispered quickly. "Hiei does not take kindly to rude awakenings. Startling him while he's asleep is asking for him to slit your throat."

Sin looked down at the fire demon, who was still unconscious on the bed. The throbbing pain in her arm was sending waves of pure, unadulterated fear into her brain, so she barely registered Kurama's warning before fear shut her mind down, and in a moment of blind instinctive, primal need her other arm snapped out and latched onto Hiei's like a lamprey eel.

She felt her hand brush the demon's arm, felt the cool, soft skin, and for a short moment, a calm slid over her mind, a calm that was shattered as her back slammed into the hard wall. The impact sent pain throughout her entire torso, and she slid to the ground, landing awkwardly on her injured foot, which throbbed violently, erasing all traces of the serenity she had felt a mere moment before.

She looked up and saw Hiei sitting bolt upright, silhouetted by the twilit window. His head snapped around, featureless except for his large purple eye that shown brightly in the dim light. She found herself looking up into it, expecting to see anger and annoyance at being so harshly woken up, but found none. She couldn't place it exactly, but the eye seemed almost…sad…

Then, the outline blurred and vanished. The window pane shattered loudly in the wake of Hiei's swift exit.

There was silence, broken by a sigh from Kurama. "I did warn you. You're lucky the vampire weed came loose so easily. We'd have had rather a time of it trying to extract any torn pieces from your veins before they took root."

Sin turned to the boy's shadowed form, deciding to ignore that last part. "Don't you think you should-"

Sin's chest finally registered the force with which Hiei had hit her, and she finished her sentence with a snarl of pain.

Kurama was suddenly kneeling down in front of her in the dark. "I apologize; I hadn't realized how hard Hiei must have hit you. How badly are you injured?"

Sin indicated the bruise slowly forming high on her chest, slightly below her left shoulder. "It's not…ouch, it's not that bad, it just stings…"

She couldn't really see his expression in the light, but she could hear a slight confusion in his voice. "Really?" he asked, fingers tracing the injured area, "I thought for sure Hiei would have broken your collarbone, hitting you that hard-"

The lights clicked on. "What's going on- oh…"

Sin and Kurama looked up at Emina, clad in her pajamas, standing in the doorway, eyes locked onto the pair.

Kurama quickly withdrew his outstretched hand from Sin's chest. "Hello, Emina," he said. "Is everything alright?"

After a short, silent pause, she responded. "Yeah…everything's fine…" Sin watched her friend force her eyes away from them and onto the empty bed. "Where's Hiei?" she asked, a little distantly.

Kurama stood up and coughed. "He, uh, was feeling a bit better, so he decided to take a walk to clear his head."

Emina nodded, raising her eyes a little. "Through my window, I see."

Kurama nodded back. "It would appear that way."

Her face was unreadable as she turned back to him. "Don't you think you should go after him?"

He shook his scarlet mane, oblivious to Emina's unusual demeanor. "No, not particularly." He indicated the bandages around his midriff. "I'm sure he's perfectly capable of-"

"I think you should go after him," stated Emina, and she turned and left the room without another word.

Kurama stared after her. He turned to Sin after a moment, a puzzled look on his face. "I believe I was just politely commanded to leave."

Sin nodded. "Looks like."

Kurama looked back to the empty doorway silently.

"Well, it did look kinda awkward when she walked in," Sin said.

Kurama sighed and shook his head. "Yes, but one would think the multi-colored bruise on your chest would catch the eye more than the placement of my hand."

Sin gave a pained shrug. "She's a teenaged girl, Kurama. We're hard to predict."

The boy nodded, resting his head wearily in his hand. He looked back at Sin pleadingly. "I don't suppose you could try and talk to her? Maybe see if you can explain the-"

Sin cut him off, shaking her head. "She's just as pissed at me, Kurama. I'm sorry, but you're on your own here."

"Ah…I suspected that might be the case." He nodded to himself. "Well, I suppose I ought to leave, then, even if I won't be searching for Hiei incredibly hard."

Sin stood up, wincing at the pain in her shoulder and neck, and looked at him questioningly. "Why not? Aren't you guys friends?"

He gestured to the bandages around his midriff. "While this isn't the first time Hiei has stabbed me through the abdomen, or the last for that matter, it doesn't mean I appreciate the gesture. And I'm going to be working on analyzing your blood sample." He shrugged as he gathered up the disgusting, bulbous plant and its waving tendrils. "He'll be back in any event."

Sin cocked her head. "Why do you say that?"

"Simple," said Kurama, a mischievous smile playing at his lips. "He left his sword here."


	9. Chapter 8

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

…_blood…_

…_blood…_

…_want blood…need blood…_

…_warm blood…taste blood…_

…_search…look for blood…_

…_find blood…_

…_blood…_

…_catch…catch them…catch them kill them shred them tear them bite them drink their blood, blood, blood, blood, blood yes blood blood yes oh bleeding blood blood lots of blood of tasty blood blood yes blood oh yes dohyesohyesohaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-_

Sin woke with a yelp, drenched yet again from head to foot.

She cursed under her breath as she tried to slow her heart rate. It was every night now, every single night. And it was always the same dream, the same dark sky, the same feeling of insatiable bloodlust. There had to be a reason for it, there had to be something…recurring dreams always meant something, didn't they?

She rubbed her eyes wearily and rolled over onto her stomach. Emina wasn't in any mood to talk last night, so Sin had claimed the bed Hiei had slept on. Normally the girls would just share a bed but considering the circumstances she could understand. Still she was a bit worried. She hadn't expected Emi to be so mad at her. After all it had really been an accident.

Although, she thought, if you considered that she had completely assumed Suiichi, or Kurama, had had no interest what so ever in her, or that she had also decided there was no way to get him to like her, it would seem that Emi did tend to see the absolute worst side of things. That would explain her disregard of the large circular injury on Sin's chest. Under normal circumstances, Sin was sure, Emina would have overreacted about the _injury_, and gone on a rant about killing whoever was responsible, very slowly and very painfully.

Sin tugged uncomfortably in her damp pajamas, watching the stars through the broken window. Hopefully, a good night's sleep would put her friend back to normal, and she could explain things in the morning.

She lay there for a while, listening to the sound of her own breathing. She was dreading sleep, for she had no desire to return to the world of her dreams.

There was a sharp swish of air and suddenly the stars vanished and the slight breeze stopped. Sin's breath caught in her throat.

She could just make out a silhouette crouched on the windowsill, one with a very distinctive hairstyle.

She felt her heart begin to race as Hiei began to slide silently through the hole in the glass-

And promptly lost his balance and fell. There was a harsh ripping sound as the sharp glass caught the edge of his pants. A shred of black fluttered in the breeze as the small demon dropped out of Sin's line of vision.

There was a quiet, muffled curse from the floor.

Sin remained stock still as a hand appeared over the side of the bed, clutching a clear glass bottle. The hand was quickly followed by a well-muscled torso that leaned heavily on the mattress. Sin watched the black silhouette raise the bottle and drain half the remaining liquid in one quick gulp.

The fatigued fire demon rose to his feet and quickly skirted the edge of Sin's bed to the far corner of the room . Sin rolled over as quietly as she could to watch him. He quietly plucked his sword from its upright position. She heard a few quiet, incoherent grumbles, and Hiei began to wipe the blade along his pants, obviously trying to get something off of it. Probably Kurama's blood, Sin thought darkly.

Sin sat up slowly. "Hiei?" She asked quietly

There was a swish and Hiei's violet Jagan was suddenly glaring at her from down the length of his katana, which was pointed directly at Sin's throat. From beneath its violet gaze, his crimson eyes locked onto hers, glowing brightly in the starlight that filtered into the room. Sin was temporarily stunned into silence as the sheer intensity of the demon's look paralyzed her.

Then, the top half of the closest bedpost fell to the floor with a definite clunk, having been neatly severed from its base by a wayward blade.

She turned to stare at the demon's handiwork. Sin had only known Hiei for a few short days, but she was sure he wasn't the careless type. He was too disciplined for that.

The fallen object drew Sin's attention to Hiei's other hand, the fingers of which were strangling the neck a tall glass bottle.

She looked back up at him, blankly. He continued to glare for a moment, silently, as if he were struggling to think of something to say. When nothing came to him, he dropped his hand and sheathed his sword. Then, his dark form blurred, and he vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.

Or would have, had he not missed the shattered window by a good three feet to the right.

Sin crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as the fire demon rebounded back towards the center of the room, leaving a spider-web of cracks in the wall. Inside, she was laughing hysterically, but she managed to keep a straight face. "Wow. That was impressive. You alright?"

"Shut up," growled Hiei, pushing himself shakily to his feet.

Sin crawled to the foot of the bed to watch him. "You know, when someone asks if you're alright, telling them to shut up isn't really the right way to respond. You'll never get any friends that way."

"I've never had any friends, nor have I ever felt the desire to make any." He managed to stand up, albeit a little unsteadily. "And I'm fine."

Sin shook her head, smirking. "No you're not. May I remind you that you just plowed headfirst into a wall." She wrinkled her nose, noticing the bitter smell of alcohol that clung to him. "How much have you been drinking?"

He bent down and scooped up the bottle he'd dropped. "None. And I'm aware I just ran into the wall, baka onna. It was my intention to do so."

Sin burst out laughing. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Alright, so you ran full-on into a wall on purpose. Care to say why?"

Hiei stood back up, bottles in hand, and faced the fractured wall. "No." He blurred again.

Sin flinched as the wall exploded with sound that set her ears ringing, sending pieces of drywall and brick tumbling wildly across the field behind Emina's cottage.

She scrambled out of bed, wincing at the strain on her injuries, and rushed through the opening in the wall. Hiei had fallen to the ground several meters from the cottage, and was lying amongst the strewn debris. Sin ran over and knelt beside him, rolling him over onto his back. She was struck by how heavy he was, many layers of corded muscle packed tightly around his small frame. Though she stood a good head taller than him, he probably outweighed her by at least ten pounds.

She found her hands lingering on his bare arms and torso, and she peered shyly into his face. His eyelids were closed, concealing the crimson orbs she had grown accustom to, hiding their angry red glow. The Jagan's large lids had closed as well, drawing all the frown lines and creases from Hiei's face, and making him seem almost…sad.

Inexplicably, against every intelligent notion in her head, Sin was struck with an overwhelming desire to protect the demon in front of her.

Then all three of Hiei's eyes snapped open to find an unfamiliar figure leaning over his prone form.

There was a sound akin to a sledgehammer striking a small helium balloon, and Sin rolled to a stop several meters away, stars dancing merrily before her eyes.

She looked hazily back at Hiei, who sat up and looked over at her. His three eyes fixed on her, once again showing an expression that she couldn't quite place. He reached out a hand towards her. "I'm s-"

He stopped and withdrew his hand.

After a moment, he spoke again. "Touch me once more, baka onna, and I will tear your arms off and make you eat them."

With that, he snatched up his bottles again, blurred, and vanished. There was no crash this time.

Sin lay back, still reeling from the blow to her jaw. She could dimly hear someone running up to her as her vision slowly faded to black.

Just before the darkness enveloped her, a sleepy thought crossed her mind. Due to his uncanny speed, she was never able to see Hiei's punches. It was too bad: she was sure he had really nice form…

* * *

Tuesday morning rolled in like a cement truck, and personally, Sin felt like it must have backed over her a few times on its way in.

"So have we forgiven Suiichi yet?" she asked, then winced and pressed the icepack more firmly against her jaw.

She heard Emina answer from inside her kitchenette. "Yeah, think so. Really, I had no idea you were hurt."

Sin peered down at the large, colorful splotch across her tan chest. It really was quite impressive, colored with hues of blue and purple and highlighted by a pale yellow edge. But looking at it hurt, so she rested her head back down on the arm of the sofa.

Emina's pale face quickly occupied the space in front of Sin like a full moon. "Here," she said with concern, and Sin felt another icepack being set on her chest. She smiled up at her friend. "Thanks Emi. And you do know that I have no feelings for Suiichi, right?"

The albino's face moved towards the other end of the couch, and Sin felt another cold pack of ice being situated on her wrapped foot. "Kurama," she corrected. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry for reacting so badly. It was late, I was tired, you know…" she shrugged apologetically. "And I honestly _did not_ see the bruise. And now your jaw, too; I swear if I ever see that spiky-haired midget again…" she trailed off with a growl as she finished removing Sin's bandage and aggressively applied a third ice pack to the swollen foot, causing Sin to yelp in pain.

Emina winced apologetically. "Sorry!"

Sin shook her head, masking the pain that was now spread across most of her body with a smile. "It's fine. You're just pissed because he knocked a hole in your wall, aren't you?"

Emina nodded sadly. "Yeah…he could've just knocked on the door, I would've gotten the sword for him! Stupid dwarf…" she crossed her arms and pouted cutely.

Sin couldn't contain herself. "Aw, you're so adorable when you're mad! I'd pinch your cheek if I could move…"

"Shut up. Do not pinch me." Emina growled as she jabbed an angry finger in Sin's direction, although her eyes were smiling.

Having heard that, Sin simply could not resist. She sat up quickly, having lied about her movement capabilities, and pinched her best friend. "You're so cuuuuuuuuuute-"

Emina yelped and slapped her friend's hand away, with unusual force that threw them both off balance. Sin toppled from the couch onto her friend scattering the ice packs everywhere. Sin was overcome with laughter as Emina struggled to untangle herself from Sin's arms enough to remove the bag of ice that had plopped squarely on her nose. She managed to push it off her with the back of her hand, leaving her nose bright red with the cold.

Sin adjusted her position so that she was straddling Emina at the waist, and planted a kiss on her red nose. "Now this is more like it…" she growled, eliciting a round of giggles from both of them.

Their laughter was suddenly cut off as the front door opened and Mal stepped into the living room, home-made staff tied to his back. "Hey guys! You'll never guess what-" He stopped and staring at the girls tangled on the floor. There was a brief flash from his staff, which shrank, and his eyes were suddenly bright blue.

"Alright, looks like I missed the war," he stated frankly, noting Sin's bruised body before turning his attentions to Emi who still lay pinned to the floor. "But I'm guessin' I'm just in time for the victory celebration."

He sprang over the girls' heads and landed in a sitting position on the couch, legs spread. "Well, ladies?" he asked with a grin. "Who's first?"

"Me!" Sin responded with a feint to Mal's crotch, causing him to yelp in fear and snap his legs shut.

Sin laughed cruelly. "You're just jealous," she said, as Emina squirmed out from underneath her.

Mal's now-brown eyes peered at her over his knees. "Maybe," he conceded, "or maybe it's somewhere between jealousy and mild terror. Who knows?"

"Alright, how'd you do that?" she asked.

Mal looked at her quizzically. "Do what?"

She jabbed her finger dangerously close to his eye causing him to flinch backward. "Your eyes. They were brown when you came in, then they turned blue, and now they're brown again. You talk different, too. What happened?"

His eyes fixated blankly on Sin's accusing finger, then looked away, ashamedly. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Sin raised an eyebrow. "It happened during the fight with Hiei, too: you summoned your staff out of thin air, turned your eyes blue, and suddenly became awesome, before returning to normal." She smirked a little as he caught the subtle jab and narrowed his eyes at her. "I think your stick changed, too, didn't it?"

Mal's face reddened with embarrassment and Sin felt a twinge of guilt for pressing her friend. She slid onto the couch next to him, carefully avoiding strain on her various injuries, and put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon," she murmured, "just tell us. What's wrong with telling us?"

"Yeah," said Emina, moving to sit on his other side. "We're your friends. Whatever's up with you, we'll still love you and accept you and laugh at you behind your back and abuse you, same as always." She flashed him a smile that would have made a stranger's blood run cold.

But Mal was her friend, so Emina's frigid smile didn't faze him. "Ha-ha," he said in a dead monotone, turning to Sin. "First, you have to explain where the new injuries came from," he demanded, clearly stalling for time.

"Hiei hit me, twice," she stated. "Your turn."

Mal raised an eyebrow. "That's not much of an explanation."

"It's all you're gonna get until you tell me what's going."

He sighed and stood up, stepping away from the girls. "It's nothing, really. Using my spirit energy turns me into the blue-eyed guy you were talking about. That's all."

Emina looked at him suspiciously. "Really?"

He and turned around, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Yep," he confirmed with a nod.

Sin studied her best friend for a moment. Then she folded her arms. "That's a lie. Or at least, it's not the whole truth."

Mal looked down guiltily. "Yeah, you're right, it's not."

He met Sin's eyes apologetically. "I promise you, if the situation comes up where you guys will need to know, I won't hesitate to tell you. Until then, I'd really rather not talk about it. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do."

After a moment, Sin nodded. "Alright, I guess we can live with that for now."

Mal smiled gratefully, then perked up, "So you'll never guess what-"

There was a knock on the door, and all three teens jumped. Mal spun around, and the tip of his stick's sheath glanced off of a vase of white roses perched on Emina's coffee table. Before it could fall, however, the albino's left foot shot up and held it up with her toe. She pushed it upright again as Mal hurried towards the door.

It opened, revealing a redhead clad in all white with a pink sash synched around his waist.

There was a moment's awkward pause, then the boys spoke simultanously.

"I don't suppose you could give these-"

"Wait, aren't you here-"

The two boys stopped simultaneously. They exchanged a Look, which was concluded by Mal raising his eyebrows in surprise and Kurama looking down shamefully.

"I see," said Mal quietly. He turned back to the girls, who were looking on in fascination, as they always did whenever the two boys held one of their silent conversations. Upon hearing this, Mal had promptly determined that this was because no female could fathom a situation where they could not hear themselves talk, for which Sin had slugged him just as promptly.

Mal turned to Emina. "Is he allowed in?" he asked, as Kurama looked in over his shoulder with a look reminiscent of a lost puppy.

Emina laughed at his pitiful expression, then thought for a moment, "Hm…nah, leave him out in the cold!" She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

Mal shrugged, "Okay," and slammed the door with a flick of his wrist, causing the girls burst out in hysterical laughter.

Mal laughed with them for a moment, "Alright, seriously, can I let him in?"

Emina nodded, and Mal stepped forward and pulled open the door again.

There was no one there. Through the vacant doorway, Sin could make out Kurama's bright white form shuffling dejectedly away.

Sin heard a quiet, "Aw…" from Emina, and an idea struck her. "Wait!" she said, as Mal started to call Kurama back.

She got to her feet, with Emina's help. "C'mon," she said, indicating the door. She hobbled along beside the small albino, and the pair swiftly made their way across the living room.

Emina looked skeptically at her. "Um, we're not going after him, are we?"

Sin remained silent, continuing her progress.

Emina began to look slightly fearful. "Sin? We're not, right? 'Cause you know the sun is really, um, bright," she seemed to be grasping for an excuse, "and you know my skin is sensitive to the sun."

They reached the door. Sin managed to balance on her own without putting too much pressure on her foot, reached out, and scooped up an umbrella from the stand beside her. "So take some shade!" she said brightly, handing the umbrella to the nervous albino. Then, with a light shove, she sent her friend tumbling through the doorway into the open.

She stepped back, catching a glimpse of Emina's horrified face as Mal closed the door right on cue.

The pair went over to the front window and watched as the bewildered girl snapped open the umbrella, turned around shyly, and managed to muster the courage to call out to Kurama, who turned and blushed deeply.

It took Sin a moment to realize. "I just shoved Emi out the door in her pj's, didn't I?"

Mal nodded. "Yep."

She looked at him. "Why didn't you stop me?"

He shrugged as Kurama and Emina met along the driveway, her umbrella casting a protective shadow around her sensitive features. "You wouldn't have listened anyway."

Sin shrugged and turned back to the pair outside. They were talking now, faces shrouded by the shade of the umbrella. The made a very cute couple, her pale skin matching his glaring white suit. He handed her the bouquet of ruby roses, perfectly accented by their jade stems, in an almost offhand manner. A small paper bag sheathed the majority of the thorns, leaving a few inches bare near the blooms to show off the precise spacing of the sharp spikes. Their perfection spoke volumes about the amount of care the plant-manipulator had put into growing them.

Emina took them and then, after a moment, looked up at him to thank him, turning to look almost vertically to account for the ten inches of height difference between them.

Sin giggled to herself. "Aren't they so adorable?"

When she got no response, she looked over at Mal. He was staring out the window at the pair with a wooden expression.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Mal?"

He blinked once. "Yeah?"

She sighed and put her arm around his shoulders, awkwardly negotiating around the stick on his back. "Right. I forgot you like Emi."

"Yeah, so maybe I do. Is that a crime?"

Sin glanced sideways at him, surprised. Once again, Mal was acting out of character. "Well excuse me for being concerned," she said. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," he snarled. "Shut up about it, already." She stared up at him. This wasn't his way Mal normally talked, but it didn't sound like the blue-eyed guy, either. It was more cynical and sarcastic…

She drew her arm from around him, brushing his stick with her fingers. And that's when she noticed: the stick had changed again. It wasn't his old broom-handle staff, but it wasn't his short, compact stick either. Instead, she found, Mal had a very unusual sheath on his back, almost completely concealing whatever weapon his staff had become. She grasped the end of it, which was wrapped up in black grip-tape and capped by plastic hexagon, and carefully slid it out of its sheath.

She found herself staring at a battered wooden hockey stick, with a second segment of grip-tape wrapped at about midway down its length, and strange, indecipherable runes etched along its shaft.

She raised an eyebrow. So this was another part of whatever it was Mal didn't want to talk about. "What's this-"

He reached back and slapped her hand away harshly. "Hey, be careful with that, will ya?"

Sin looked up at him and gasped involuntarily. She mentally kicked herself for it, but it's always a touch unsettling to meet someone with mismatched eyes, especially when that person's eyes normally _weren't_.

Mal looked at her. "What's up, doll? I got somethin' on my face?" He patted his face theatrically, his eyes gleaming mischievously.

Sin shook herself and looked back. "Sorry, it's just…your eyes are different colors."

"Yeah, so-" He froze. His right hand slowly rose to touch the handle of his hockey stick. After a moment, it flashed out of existence, to be replaced by the old broom-handle staff Mal normally wore.

"Sorry about that," he said, his now brown eyes meeting hers apologetically, "Happens sometimes." He reached up to his shoulder and touched the staff which disappeared with a flash.

"There," he said with a smile. "No more transformations for a while."

Sin looked at him skeptically. "You sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I only physically transform when my Spirit Energy is open, and I just closed it off."

"Physically transform?" asked Sin, catching the specification. "What about mentally or, I don't know, spiritually?"

Mal laughed a bit at the last comment. "Well, I don't know about spiritually, but it's always been difficult to control my mental transformations."

"I think you need to explain this in more detail, right now," she said.

Mal looked slightly pained. "Do I have to?"

She glared at him sternly. "Yes. You told us your power makes you turn into the blue-eyed guy, with the short stick and the ninja skills. But you just turned into a guy with different-colored eyes, a bad temper, and hockey stick with magic symbols on it. Which means you weren't telling us the truth about your power. So you need to explain, _right now_, or I'm going to tell those two," she gestured out the window, "about this new guy."

Mal followed her finger out the window, and watched Emina and Kurama as they began to walk back to the house.

He sighed and turned away, sitting down on the window sill. "She really likes Suiichi, doesn't she?"

Sin nodded. "Yes she does. I'm sorry, Mal." She sat down next to him, patting his arm. "I wish there were a way to make all three of you happy, but you and Suiic- Kurama can't both have the same girl, and she's chosen him. You need to move on."

Mal sat silent for a moment, then chuckled darkly. "Good thing I sent my stick away. This would be very awkward if I hadn't."

Sin nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. Now hurry up, they're almost here."

Another moment passed. Mal drew in a deep breath, and spoke quickly, "I have schizophrenia/split-personality disorder. There are multiple people living in my head." She felt him draw up suddenly, like he was scared of something.

Sin blinked. What was he expecting, exactly? "Um, ok," she said. "How many?"

"Seven," he said curtly, still tense and withdrawn. "Six, actually."

She waited a moment, almost as expectant as he was. "Ok," she said finally. "That makes sense. I think we'd pretty much established that already."

He blinked several times, staring at nothing, then began to relax. "You're not bothered at all?"

She shook her head. "No."

He looked skeptical. "Like, _at all_?"

Sin returned the look. "Should I be?"

He nodded emphatically. "Um, yeah! I'm _insane_, Sin! There's something wrong with my brain! Multiple people are sharing one body! People like me who show it get locked up! I'm a freak, a mistake in the universe, I-"

She kicked him in the leg to shut him up, and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her. "Mal," she said very slowly, as if talking to a small child, "You're not a freak. You're as normal the rest of us. Having more than one mind doesn't change who you are to me, or Suiichi, or Emi, or any of your other friends." She leaned up and gently kissed his forehead.

The door handle rattled, and then was immediately followed by a series of pounding knocks. "Well," she said, "We better go let them in-"

She was cut off by an enormous hug from her friend. "Thank you for not freaking out," he said into her shoulder. She could feel a tear drip down his cheek and roll down her back.

She smiled and patted his back. "Of course, Mal. What did you expect?" He sat up from her, drying his eyes.

"I expected…something else," he said, with a shrug.

She nodded understandingly, and then snapped her fingers. "Oh! Before we let them in," she said as the pounding on the door intensified, "Has anything happened to one of your personalities? Because you've been acting different lately."

He cocked his head. "How so?"

"Well, you hardly ever get angry at anything anymore-"

"Oh, right," he said, laughing, "my more…aggressive persona." He shrugged, "That's why I said seven first, and then six. I had it removed."

"Removed?"

"Yeah, just…" he mimed plucking something out of a jar, "just took it out." With that, he stood up and went to go open the door.

"Took it out and put it where?" she wondered aloud.

The door swung wide and Emina slugged Mal in the gut. "Jerk," she yelled, "why'd you lock me out of my own house?"

Mal stood back up, ignoring the pain in his stomach. "Just giving you guys some privacy," he said with a nod, before turning and striding back into the living room.

"Wait, what?" she asked incredulously, tagging along behind him. Kurama, for his part, turned to Sin and shrugged, then did a very comical double take. "What in the world happened to your face?"

Sin smiled wryly at the unintended insult. "Gee, thanks Kurama," she said, hobbling over to him. "Good to see you, too."

Kurama looked sternly at her. "Sin, please, you know I meant no insult. You've got a bruise the size of an apple across your jaw that wasn't there when I left last night. If this keeps up, your skin is going to develop a natural camouflage pattern."

Mal gasped, "Wait, was that a joke? Did Kurama just make use of the strange and foreign concept known as 'humor'?"

They all laughed at this, even Kurama as he helped Sin limp her way towards the sofa to sit beside Mal. Emina leaned over the coffee table and carefully added the red roses to the vase of white ones, arranging the latter in a circle around the former, before she sat back in her big stuffed armchair. Kurama glanced down at the roses, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth, before seating himself in a plaid blue rocking chair. "Alright," he said, "Sin, please tell me how you got this new injury."

"I'm curious, myself," added Mal, turning to look at her.

Sin explained, very carefully, and omitting some of the more personal details, how Hiei had visited her room the night before, blown out her wall, and slugged her in the face.

Kurama sighed deeply and dropped his head into his hands. "Hiei was _drinking_?"

"Yeah," said Sin, puzzled. "I mean, he was drunk and all, and it was a little disappointing, but I wasn't really surprised."

The red-head shook his scarlet mane back and forth. "Alcohol impairs judgment, although it takes rather more of it to affect a demon than it does a human. Hiei is ordinarily violently opposed to the idea of purposely drinking oneself into a stupor, which is understandable, given his personality. I have caught him drinking twice in the past, the first being directly after we had found his sister, the second being when he departed her company and left for Makai, shortly before the first great tournament. Both times, he actively chose not to reveal the fact that they were siblings, although he had gone to great lengths to protect her and keep her safe. After the second incident, in fact, he attempted to commit suicide, in his own fashion."

He sighed and looked up. "Put more simply, the fact that he was drinking indicates that his mental health is in far worse condition than I thought, and that we need to find him as soon as possible before he does something rash."

Emina raised an eyebrow. "Like what? Drinking himself to death?"

Kurama glanced sideways at her. "Possibly. He may do that. Or he may decide to level Tokyo. We have no way of knowing."

"Right," said Sin dryly. "We're worried he might single-handedly demolish Tokyo, so we're going to go look for him? I mean, I've already taken two punches from him; if he's really that tough, I'm not interested in taking a third."

"Hey," interjected Mal, "I took, like, sixteen from him yesterday. What are _you_ complaining about?"

"At least you have superpowers," she retorted, "All I've got is me."

Kurama laughed unexpectedly. "Actually, that might be enough at this point."

All three turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

He sat back and steepled his fingers. "I analyzed your blood sample last night, after I got home," Emina looked down a little shamefully, but said nothing, "I had no real idea as to what I might find: as I already mentioned, no one but me has yet grown a death seed in their body and lived, so your case is, quite frankly, unique. But even taking that under consideration, I was still surprised at the results of the analysis."

He sat forward, eyes gleaming excitedly. "From what I can tell, it appears that the strengthening chemical that the death seed injected into your broken bones has spread throughout your entire body, perhaps through the blood vessels and channels in the bone marrow. As it spread, it successfully integrated into your system, causing your cells to produce it in small amounts across most of your body. Ever major structure, be it bone, tendon, muscle, or organ, is now permeated with this strengthening chemical."

He shrugged apologetically. "I must admit, my strengths lie in biology, not in chemistry, so I am at a loss as to the nature of this substance. I don't know what it's made of, nor precisely how strong it is. But I do know that your body should reach equilibrium in about four days, when it will degrade the substance as fast as it produces it. At that point…" he paused for dramatic effect. "according to my estimates, you should be virtually indestructible."

The room went silent. Kurama's eyes glittered with excitement.

Sin stared at him, gaping. Indestructible? Seriously?

The green-eyed youth must have noticed a flicker of doubt in her eyes. "That first punch from Hiei should have shattered your collarbone," he pointed out. "The second, from what you've told me, should have removed your head. I note that, not only is your head still firmly attached, but the bruise on your jaw is significantly smaller than the one on your chest, indicating that your body is still growing stronger."

Sin remained silent. She could feel the others' eyes boring into her, waiting for a reaction.

"First thing when I get to school, I'm gonna get in a _huge_ fight!" she declared, grinning maliciously.

The other three laughed, defusing the pent up tension. Suddenly, Emina yelped. "School! It's a school day! What time is it we're gonna be late-"

She started to jump up in a panic, but Mal extended a hand to stop her. "Settle down, Emi, good lord! That's what I came here to tell you guys." He threw his hands in the air happily. "No school today!"

The other three looked at him, confused. "What?" asked Emina. "Why?"

Mal shrugged, feigning ignorance. "No idea. Something about a natural gas explosion taking out one of the walls. Apparently, they need to make sure the building is still structurally sound. Go figure."

Kurama shrugged as well. "Of course. You can't ever be sure in an explosion of that sort that the rest of the building is unharmed. Girders may have come loose inside the walls. It's the safest option, really."

Mal nodded. "Yep. Curse those natural gas leaks-"

He was interrupted by a low rumble that started as a buzz under their feet and grew from there. The first things to react to it were the chinaware in Emina's kitchen, which began to chatter together within their cabinet like a freezing child's teeth. Then the vase of flowers Emina had so carefully arranged started to rattle back and forth, slowly meandering across the smooth tabletop. Kurama's rocking chair began to accelerate, causing his hair to wave about like a victory banner.

Each noise and vibration, entered softly and grew, compounding on one another and increasing dynamically. The symphony of movement flowed around Sin for a moment like a strange, incomprehensible orchestra, growing and expanding until it reached its thundering, violent climax.

At this point, it seemed to Sin, the dramatic orchestra became an invading army.

Every piece of furniture in the sight sprang violently to life and began stampeding around the room. The floor below rolled and undulated, tossing things angrily into the air like an infant throwing a tantrum. The walls buckled and groaned as they were forced to adjust their lengths to accommodate the moving floor. Loud crashes and bangs pierced the low, unending rumble as shelved objects lost their balance and fell, or were subsequently thrown back into the air by the waves of linoleum. One of Emina's paintings relinquished its desperate grip on its mounting and descended onto Sin's back. The heavy frame connected solidly with her spine as she clung to Mal, causing her to emit a yelp of pain that was lost in the din.

Finally, though, the chaos faded as gradually as it had begun. The floor ceased its unnatural writhing, the herd of furniture collected itself in the corner by the door, and the clinking chinaware from within the kitchen slowly settled down. Eventually, there was nothing left but silence and stillness.

Sin looked up. The sofa she and Mal were on had stayed in roughly the same place, due to the added weight. Emina was curled up into a tight ball on her armchair, which had migrated into the corner with most of the other furniture. Only Kurama's shoes were visible over the rocking chair, which had toppled over backwards in the middle of the room.

"Wow," she said, "That was some earthquake…"

There was no response. Sin looked first to Mal, then to Emina, and finally to Kurama, who swung his legs around and sat up on the floor, dead silent. All three were staring through a wall off to her left, as though looking at something distant.

She looked with them, not seeing anything. "Um, guys? What are you looking at?"

"I have no earthly idea," replied Mal in a monotone, gazing outward past the painted drywall.

Sin blinked, uncomprehending. "Ok…"

"Sin, do you remember what I told you about energy signatures?" asked Kurama urgently, without turning away.

She nodded. "Uh-huh. What about them?"

"You remember that demons have Demon Energy and humans have Spirit Energy?" he asked, still staring.

"Uh-huh…"

"Well, this one was neither," finished Mal. "But it was a _shit-_load of neither."

Sin nodded, still wondering what it looked like to them. Even Emina seemed entranced by whatever it was Sin couldn't see.

Wait, what was _she_ looking at? "Emi?"

Emina glanced over at her, then shook herself, "I was just, um, following them, trying to see what they were looking at." She shrugged. "Can't see a thing." She went back to staring at the wall. "What do you guys think it is?"

"I have no idea," repeated Mal, rising slowly, "But I think I need to go check it out."

Kurama stood with him. "I'll come along."

Emina nodded, turning to Sin. "So will we." She walked over to help her friend to her feet.

Sin looked up incredulously. "Us? What are we going to do, cheer?"

Mal nodded, heading for the door. "Sure. It's more helpful than you might think."

He opened the door, turned back, and winked. "And hey: if worst comes to worst, you've got nothing to lose. After all, you're indestructible."


	10. Chapter 9

Alright...so... For the benefit of the few readers that I have, I must mention on thing:

My editor, being a junior in High School, no longer has time to edit my stuff. I know, there are probably bunches of you out there with time to spare, during which you would just LOVE to be a "beta reader" for me. And I appreciate the thought, I really do.

It's just... I don't know... I like her editing style a LOT. She knows EXACTLY what I need to add or take away, and I'm sort of... I'm a lot more comfortable with HER telling me I'm a mentally retarded son-of-a-platypus than I would be with someone ELSE telling me that, and often, that's what my writing needs. I'm used to her, I'm comfortable with her, and I'm particularly NOT comfortable with someone whose writing I'm not familiar with telling me that my word choice makes her gag.

So yeah... the editing is going to take a definite downward slide from here on out... I apologize for that. Please don't hate me...

(The exception to the above rule would be if you, Emina, want to be my Beta reader, because a lot of my writing is leeching off of From Crimson to Red anyway c: . But I know you're just as busy as the rest of us, so I was worried to even ASK...)

Anyway, enjoy the latest installment. We finally get some combat, which is what I love the best. And, while full-out editing isn't requested, I do still appreciate reviews and comments as you care to give them. Thanks for sticking with me!

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

The streets were still fairly empty, given the early hour of the morning. The only people up and about right now were busy preparing their stores and businesses for those who woke up later. The stores that weren't opening up were closing down for the day, the bars and taverns kicking out their few remaining patrons in an effort to secure themselves a few well-deserved hours of rest before they reopened in the evening.

Two of these recently-displaced parties were currently stumbling down the barren street, conversing with one another in full view of the morning sunshine. The woman, obviously the tipsier of the two, nuzzled the man's neck fondly, her raven locks starkly contrasting his steely gray hair. For his part, he somehow managed to support her weight, even as his legs were developing new and creative ways to place one foot vaguely in front of the other.

"Thanks fer takin' me out, Ted," slurred the woman, trailing her long black fingernails down his well-defined chest. "I hada wunnerful time!"

"No problem…Laura," he said, hesitating when recalling her name.

"I mean it," she said, tapping his chest for emphasis. "I hada real, real good time t'night. It was absolu-, ablsol-, asbslo-," she gave up. "Hada very good night, with you."

"Hey," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "anything for a pretty lady like you." His careful, smooth voice indicated a significantly lower amount of intoxication than his intangible legs were claiming.

She giggled. "Yer so sweet," she said, then yawned deeply. "Gawd, I'm exhaust-, exhaust-, exhume-, really really tired," she said, struggling to come up with words longer than 'chicken.' "What time's it?"

The man glanced at the sun, judging. "Probably about seven o'clock." He patted his companion amiably. "We've been out for quite a while."

The girl giggled again, leaning back against him. "Yep. Pro'lly should go home." She closed her eyes, a smirk forming at the corner of her mouth. "I'm so tired…" her hands began to wander down his body, "I jus' feel like goin' home, lockin' the door, takin' off my clothes and jumpin' right into bed. Think thassa good plan?"

The man grinned, broadly. For a moment, his mouth split too wide, and the light glinted off of row after row of serrated, triangular teeth.

Then, he dropped into a thoughtful frown. The teeth vanished from view.

"That sounds like a fine plan," he said, looking disappointed, "But there's just one thing..."

She looked up at him, confused. "Was'sat?"

He sighed. "Means we have to walk aaaaaaaaaaaaall the way back to your house, doesn't it?"

She looked forlorn. "Ohmigosh…I hadn't thought of that…do you think we can make it?"

"I don't know…" he said, leaning heavily on her and glancing perilously down at his legs, which had still not regained anything resembling steadiness. "I'm, uh, barely able to hold it together as it is."

She made an effort to support him. "Oh dear!" she said, with a heavily-inebriated tone of concern. "W-What're we gonna do?"

He reached up and pinched her cheek. "Nothing to worry about, pretty lady," he said with a suggestive smile. "We'll just have to find somewhere closer to lie down for a while." He pointed across the street to a small alley, still hidden from the morning sun in deep shadow. "Let's try over there. Looks dark and quiet, no one around."

She squinted across at the alley, evidently struggling to focus on it. "But…won't it be cold? Ted, it looks cold…"

He shrugged, ushering her across the street. "We'll have to keep each other warm, then. C'mon-"

The quake struck slowly, sort of like an incoming tidal wave. You could feel the low, rumbling buzz as it came, and then it was on with a crash, knocking the two unsteady pedestrians to the ground. The earth bucked and shook, rattling a manhole cover some ways down the street. Windows shattered from the vibrations, trashcans were tossed about like jumping beans and cars bounced and rolled across the open street, alarms wailing like a frightened heard of elephants. The high-pitched shrieks and dissonant harmonies of the destruction floated almost loftily above the turbulent sea of earth, which roared and rumbled like a moving bass line, accompanied by the percussive crashes and bangs of errant debris.

After several minutes, the rumble halted. The car alarms eventually died down. A few people looked out, worried, but it was Japan: earthquakes here happened relatively often. There were no fires in the immediate vicinity, nor had there been any major building collapses, so eventually, everyone turned back to their lives, chalking it up as a slightly more interesting day than normal.

The girl sat up, obviously dizzy. Even from a seated position, she struggled to remain upright. "Wow," she said, "That was intense, huh Ted?" She turned to look for her companion.

Ted was sitting, stock still, staring across the street. To a bystander, it would have appeared that he was completely and utterly terrified of the brick wall holding up one of the buildings at the side of the road. Except that his unfocused eyes seemed to be looking farther…

The girl blinked at him. "Ted? Wassup?"

He shook his head slowly. Then he closed his eyes, and tilted his head, like he was straining to hear something.

He shook his head after a moment, looking up. "Nothing," he muttered, almost to himself. "There's nothing there. Nothings wrong."

Sweat beaded off him as he stood, reached down and hauled the girl up one-handed. "C'mon, let's just get over there quickly." She laughed at his sudden roughness as he hustled her towards the alley. He beckoned her to go in past the large green dumpster. "Go on in, I'll be there in a sec."

"Okay…" she breathed, wandering farther down the alley. A sudden metallic scraping made her turn around. She gasped. "Wow, Ted, 'jyou move that whole dumps-, dusmp-, dmusp-, trash-thingie by yerself?"

The man looked back at the large, green box now blocking off the alley's entrance, "Yeah," he said, silver hair glinting in the sunlight. He shrugged, "Must be empty."

She giggled. "Wow…yer strong…"

He smiled modestly. "Well, I just didn't want anyone peeking in or anything, that's all." He smiled a very wide, thin-lipped smile.

She giggled again and turned around. "Hey! Look! There's a fence!" She pointed to the very back of the alley, where there was indeed a big wooden fence.

There was a sound that must have been a scoff. "Yes. There's a fence, Linda- Laura, sorry. Why don't you go over to it, see what's on the other side?"

Laura beamed at nothing. "Okay!" She strode over to the wooden slats, in a straight line. Straight on average, at least.

She bent slightly and peered through a knothole. "Oh Lookie! It's a field! A biiiiiiiiig field…big empt-, emtp-, there's nuthin' in it but grass." She looked more carefully. "No, no… there's a guy standin' in it. Got a nice coat on, an' a big stick, looks sorta like a wizard." She laughed in surprise. "Hey! He's lookin' at me! Hiya mister wizard man-"

A firm hand grasped her shoulder. "He can't see you, pretty lady. No one can see you."

She turned around pointing past the fence. "But he was lookin' right at me-"

She stopped. A scream began to well up in her throat, but Ted's hand struck her hard across the face, cutting it off.

A bruise swiftly began forming across her cheek, and the man smiled at her from the other end of the alley. "Much better. I always like seeing a girl get roughed up a little. Gets me in the mood, you know?"

His other hand shot up the length of the alley, normal forearm trailing a strange, unearthly purple tentacle that led back to his shoulder. This hand clamped down over her throat and slammed her up against the wooden fence.

He grinned broadly, revealing several rows of sharp, triangular teeth, as the top of his head began to flatten out, as if it were a piece of soft clay, sinking down and widening out. His dull, silver hair grew long, rolling and tumbling down his back.

The girl tried to scream, but the firm grip around her throat choked any sound she tried to make. She kicked and clawed at the tentacle arm, despite her inebriation, but an additional set of them sprang from the man's shoulders, shredding the sleeves of his jacket, and nailed her wrists to the wooden slats. A third pair tore free of his jeans at the hip, and something cracked inside both of her legs as they slammed mercilessly into her shinbones.

This left the arm he'd started with, with which he fondly caressed the girl's dark hair, while his own silvery mane seemed to fall underneath the collar of his shirt, sliding over the back of his neck like a second skin. The backs of his shirt and pants emitted painful shredding noises as his physiology continued to change.

The man' profile grew enormous, filling the entire alley as he began to walk closer. A dorsal fin and streamlined aquatic tail swayed in rhythm with his steps.

He continued to smile, as well, his entire face splitting from ear to ear, and his jaw dropped disturbingly far when he spoke. "Don't you worry, pretty lady," he said sweetly, flashing pure, jet-black eyes at her, "I'm not gonna hurt you real bad, not first off. That'd be no fun." His free hand fell from her face to grasp the front of her shirt roughly. "No, I think I'm gonna peel you slowly, one layer at a time, to kind of savor each one, you know? How's that sound?"

She emitted a weak gurgle in response, still vainly struggling against his iron grip.

He laughed with a sound that was completely devoid of good intentions, gnashing a set of teeth that looked like it belonged on a meat tenderizer. "Good, good," his grip on her shirt tightened, "Now be still: this will only hurt a lot-"

The was a sharp rapping sound from behind the wooden fence. The man, for want of a better word, started, and hauled his victim from the slats.

"Demon!" commanded a voice. "Your time has come! Crawl out of the darkness and face me!"

He snorted, coiling his arms securely around his victim as he suspended her in the air. "Uh, yeah, sorry friend, no demons back here that I can tell. Unless they're shaped like trash bags, in which case yeah, take all you want."

He heard a quiet sigh. "Cease your façade, worm. Come out into the light and meet your fate with dignity, and I can promise you a swift passage to hell."

The man-like-creature shook his head, amused. "I think you may have me mixed up with some other fairy tale, sir. You should just go back home and talk to these demons of yours. Maybe you guys could settle your differences or something." He turned to face the girl. "I've got things to do…"

"I could instead make your trip to hell a slow, agonizing process, demon. I can promise it to you, if you do not release that girl."

The so-called demon paused again. "You know," he said warily, "That sounded an awful lot like a threat." He turned back to face the voice, though he maintained his grip on his captive. "Is that right? Was that a threat?"

There was a sound of splintering wood as the fence exploded inward, sending splinters of wood flying down the alley. In the sudden, glaring light, a shadowy figure withdrew an outstretched fist and stepped into the alley. His old wooden staff tapped the ground at intervals, and a long black duster flapped lazily around his knees.

The demon looked the man straight in the face, and was met with pair of burning yellow eyes.

"I believe it was a command," growled the newcomer. "Release the girl."

* * *

Sin looked around the empty field as the four of them strode across it. "You sure we're going in the right direction?"

Mal nodded, his home-brew staff swaying in rhythm with his steps. "Yeah, we're definitely headed straight for it…or straight away from it, one of the two…"

Sin hobbled along after him, working at keeping as much weight off her injured foot as possible. "So were able to pinpoint an exact direction, but you've got absolutely no idea how far away it is? What happens if it's a hundred miles away, or something? What if it's in Australia or Antarctica?"

Kurama shrugged. "Well, we'll know the surge was on another continent if we walk into the ocean."

Sin rolled her eyes. "Yeah, great plan: walk for four days straight looking for something we may have passed already. You really have no idea how far away it is?"

The red-head scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the ability to sense natural energy is far from precise. You can tell many things by reading someone's energy signature, but you can't know the direction and distance simultaneously. When you can't tell where the signature is emanating from, you know its source is close by; when you can tell beyond a shadow of a doubt where the signature is coming from, it means you're out of its immediate range, which can very from a few meters to several hundred kilometers, so you can never truly tell how far away it is."

Sin raised an eyebrow. "Sure, but what if we've already passed the spot? Can't you even hazard a guess?"

Kurama pursed his lips, working out an explanation. "Well, vaguely…it's like hearing a sound: you can tell where it's coming from, and usually what it is, but you can never pinpoint exactly how far away it is."

"Not true," she replied. "Sonar pinpoints exactly where something is using only sound. And even without it, you can almost always tell the difference between something that's a few meters away and something that's-"

He threw up his hands defensively. "Alright, so it isn't a perfect metaphor, but there really isn't any good way to describe it to someone who hasn't-"

"It's like how a radio works," offered Emina, walking beside Sin. "I mean, I'm just guessing-"

"Exactly! That's exactly what it is!" cried a voice. Everyone turned to stare at Mal, who had halted in front of them.

"Yes, a radio," he continued, talking very quickly, "It's the same principle, really: energy is just a series of waves. When a person becomes heavily exposed to natural energies, their body begins to develop a sort of 'memory' for it. The body acts like a giant antennae, or receiver, picking up the energy waves and interpreting them based on frequency, amplitude, and shape. The amount of variation between these three variables is what allows for each individual to have a unique energy signature…"

It came to Sin's attention that the staff he had worn had been replaced by a small, two-foot-long steel rod hung low on his back, where his left hand could easily reach backwards and draw it underhanded. It had a coil of wire wrapped around one end.

He turned to face them. "But, like with radio waves, the only way to determine distance is by measuring the intensity, which decreases with distance traveled. So you have to have another source of set distance to measure it against, a process called triangulation…"

He trailed off as he noted their expressions. "What? Is something wrong?"

Sin cleared her throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Um, Mal? Your eyes are bright green."

He blinked. "Well, yes, what about it?"

Emina giggled. "They match Kurama's…"

Sin elbowed her in the ribs. "Your eyes aren't normally green, Mal. This would be person number three that we haven't met before."

Kurama exchanged a glance with Emina, and then looked at Sin. "I assume, then that Emina and I missed number two?"

Mal looked between the three of them, and then waved his hands irritably. "Look, this isn't important right now. Since we're not at Emina's house, we can't triangulate the position of the energy surge, so we need to locate another energy-sensitive being, get a direction from them, and locate the intersection between their direction and ours-"

There was a noise off to Sin's right, and she turned to find a small, half-naked man lying in the grass across the field. A few specks of gravel landed in his spiky black hair, loosened from the rooftop he'd recently vacated.

Hiei stiffly pushed himself to his hands and knees and glanced up at the four teens. In a series of quick, unsteady blurs, he arrived next to them. His unfocused eyes were nonetheless brimming with pure, unfiltered rage.

"Where is he?" he demanded loudly. "I saw him, my Jagan saw him. He was this way, I know he was this way, don't try and hide him from me-"

Kurama stepped forward, hands raised in a calming gesture. "Hiei, we aren't hiding anyone. We're looking for him, too." He glanced down surreptitiously. "Um, Hiei, have you been drinking?"

"Don't change the subject, fox!" shouted the small fire demon angrily, slipping the bottle, a new bottle, Sin noted, behind his back. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him slowly and painfully, savoring each delicious moment of his-"

Mal coughed politely, cutting him off. "Yes, very pleasant, Hiei. However, if you were also looking for whatever caused the energy surge, and you ran into us here, then it's safe to assume that it happened right here. Which means that whoever caused the surge can't be far away-"

There was a smashing sound off to Sin's left. Everyone's head snapped around, towards a small alley between two of the buildings that ran along the field's edge, just in time to see a man step over the remains of a wooden fence and into the shadow. After a moment, something within the dark passage emitted an animalistic roar that shook Sin right to the bone.

Hiei was already in motion, hurtling towards the alley like a cheetah. Even in his heavily-inebriated state, he managed to cover the hundred-meter distance in less than a second, arriving at the alley's mouth just as an enormous gray mass came flying out of it. He was knocked flat beneath the bulk, which seemed to be trailing a series of splotchy purple tentacles.

The thing pushed itself up roughly. The dorsal fin and short, streamlined tail provided a very distinctive look for the creature, even before it lifted its flat, elongated head, blinked its beady black eyes, and bared its unnaturally-extensive array of teeth at something in the alley behind it.

Mal swore next to her, and Sin turned to find his eyes mismatched once again, his hand swiping at his shoulder. The metal rod vanished from his lower back, and the ancient wooden hockey stick finished materializing even as Mal brought it to bear and leveled it at the monster atop Hiei. A blinding blue beam erupted from the end of it and shot across the field towards its target- which was no longer there.

A small, tattooed arm drove a clenched fist into the creature's jaw. Its head snapped up, and it sailed majestically into the air like a breaching whale, trailing tentacles behind it that were tipped with humanoid arms and hands.

Male's blue blast burned through the space beneath the rising creature, missed all eight of its arms, and slammed into the figure that was just stepping out of the dark alley. There was a small explosion, and the figure vanished back into the shadows.

The sea monster, for lack of a better description, returned to the earth with a ground-shaking thud, dozens of meters from where it had first become airborne, while the rest of Hiei followed his arm up from the ground. The seething fired demon drew his katana, and charged screaming into the alley, while Mal raced towards the downed monster, cradling his stick in both hands.

Both girls looked to Kurama. "What should we do?"

He shrugged. "Well, immediately rushing to the aid of either Mal or Hiei runs the risk of whichever one we choose being perfectly fine, while the other begins to falter in our absence. Essentially, our best option is to wait until one or the other obviously requires assistance." He smirked, almost to himself. "Until then, perhaps we should try cheering, like you suggested."

The girls laughed, relieving some of their nervous tension. Emina cupped her hands to her mouth. "Go Mal! Woo-hoo!"

"Thanks, doll!" he called back as he sprinted towards the monstrous creature.

The thing was already rising when Mal reached it, and a purple tendril lashed out at him as he approached. He sidestepped it easily and brought his stick down in a vertical slash that drove the gelatinous arm into the ground. The monster roared in pain, and took a few more swipes at Mal, who hurdled the attacks and made an airborne lunge at the monster's head. The blade of his stick caught the monster across its massive jaw, snapping its head to one side before Mal's momentum somersaulted him beneath it. He rose alongside the creature, swung his stick upward, and struck the monster across its flank. He ducked two more flailing arms as it reeled, and then leapt forward again.

With unusual speed, the creature swung its bulk aside, avoiding Mal's attack, and a much more deliberate blow cannoned into his chest. Mal staggered, and the monster hit him twice more, knocking him to the floor. In a torrent of writhing arms, the thing was upon him, alien tendrils coiling about his limbs and humanoid hands clawing at his skin. Its large streamlined body dove towards Mal's prone form, and he only just managed to bring his stick up between its teeth as they gnashed together inches from his face. Spittle flew from the creature's enormous maw as the two of them struggled across the turf.

Kurama's hand flew to his hair. "I'd venture that's our cue, girls-"

There was a loud crack, and the three teens turned to watch Hiei's form sail out of the alley and tumble to a stop. He rose stiffly, shook himself, and then stalked back out of sight.

The red-head pursed his lips. "Of course, waiting for help to be requested doesn't work if one of the people in question would rather die than call for assistance."

He glanced back at Mal and the sea monster, the two of which appeared to be locked in a writhing stalemate. After pausing for a few moments, he turned to the girls. "Stay here. I'll see what I can do to help Hiei, and then we'll both come to Mal's aid." With that, he turned away, sprinting towards the alley, from which sounds of unimaginable violence were emanating.

Without hesitation, Emina's hand latched onto Sin's arm. "C'mon," she said, dragging her injured friend along towards the combatants. Against her better judgment, Sin followed, drawing closer to this ferocious, snarling creature that was attempting to devour her best friend.

The true, epic size of this monstrosity finally registered with Sin as Emina kicked off her shoes and scampered up its finned tail. She darted across its back like a cat, skirting around a dorsal fin nearly as tall as she was, and bounced lightly from its shoulders. She twisted as she fell and brought both hands down in a hammer blow across the beast's forehead as it continued to snap at Mal's prone form. They connected with an audible crack, and the creature drew back from Mal, yowling in pain. Emina landed lightly, flexed her knees, and sprang back upwards, throwing her entire body behind an uppercut that caught the creature squarely under the chin. Its head snapped up, followed by much of the rest of its body, and it hovered for a moment before falling to one side.

Sin and Mal blinked at the small albino.

She massaged her fist painfully, and shrugged. "Ow… Lucky shot, that's all… dammit, I think I broke my hand…"

Mal waited a moment before shaking his head. "A lucky shot?" he said, as he disentangled himself from the limp tendrils. "Doll, you just decked a friggin' _Sharkie_! How in the hell did you-"

He was cut off as on of the hands he was pulling at snapped up, grabbed his throat, and flung him aside. The others immediately sprang to life as well, boiling up around Emina before she could react. Blow after blow struck her from all directions, pummeling her relentlessly. The tornado of fists lasted for several seconds before finishing with a right cross that threw Emina several yards before she landed face-first in the dirt.

Sin screamed in horror, but it was overwhelmed by the creature's roar as its body rose from where it had lain. Its eight arms snapped into position around it, like viscous spider legs.

Immediately, its gaze fell upon Sin, standing alone and exposed in the middle of an open field. She instinctively attempted to backpedal, but her injured foot gave a painful twinge, causing her to stumble.

The monster aligned its long, gray body with her, while its frontal arms reached out, grasped the ground firmly, and snapped like a slingshot, throwing the massive thing towards her like a missile. Its enormous mouth stretched wide, revealing an innumerable number of teeth and a maw that seemed to grow wider and wider as it sped towards Sin's unprotected form.

Halfway towards her, the monster was met by a searing blue beam that glanced hard off of its shoulder. Its trajectory was knocked askew, sending it veering off to the side, where it crashed into the ground and skidded to a halt several feet to Sin's right.

Mal's muttering curses drew closer behind her. "Dammit… knew the thing was going to jump... shoulda gone for the kill shot…"

A shadow fell over her as the rough handle of a hockey stick was offered to her. "You alright?"

Sin took the stick and hauled herself up. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. A movement caught her eye. "Shit, look out!"

She shoved Mal away from her, tearing the stick from his hands, as an impossibly long arm shot between them at lethal speed. It whipped back almost immediately as the monster righted itself, snarling as it tried to remain balanced while pressing two of its arms against the bloody burn scar across its shoulder.

The thing shambled towards Mal like a drunken crab, struggling to keep its uneven feet. Mal tried to dive to one side, but the creature's massive head snapped out, closing its serrated jaws around Mal's leg. He had just enough time to scream in pain before the behemoth flicked its head, sending him flying across the field.

The monster lumbered around to pursue his target, while Sin looked around desperately for some way to distract it. An arm suddenly planted itself squarely between Sin's legs, and on a notion of pure insanity, she reached down, grasped the tendril firmly, and hauled back on it with all her might as the creature sprang.

Her effort wasn't much, and she was still tugged forward roughly, but it was still enough to drag the creature down on top of its injured shoulder. Blood spurted from the wound as it hit the ground, and Sin felt a strange thrill at the sight of it.

The thrill vanished immediately as the monster turned its angular head towards her, narrowed its eyes, and let out an earth-shattering roar of rage.

The arm she was holding snapped out of her hand roughly as the creature lunged forward, backhanding her with two of its tendril arms. Sin shot backwards for several yards, hit the ground, and tumbled across the turf for quite a distance before slowing to a halt.

She lay very still on the grass. Her entire self, from her head to her feet, felt like the soft, squishy embodiment of pain. It traveled up and down her spine in waves, which seared her brain upon arrival, and then rippled back down across her appendages, stopping at the tips of the fingers and toes and reversing direction again. It blossomed profoundly from the injuries on her chest and jaw, which had flashed with agony as they were struck by the monster's arms. The foot, which had slapped the ground several times during her violent tumble, had given up delivering pain signals to her brain, as they were obviously not getting the message across, and had settled into a sort of warm ache that threatened ungodly amounts of agony should she shift it even a little.

She cracked open her eyes. The world shook and swam around her, so she shut her eyes right away. Much better…her eyelids didn't move around so much. Better just lie here…rest up…she'd go help out Mal and the others after she rested up…

Something warm trickled down the side of her face, running along the bumps and contours in her skin, and eventually slid between her half-open lips and onto her tongue.

…_blood…_

Her body shuddered, her eyes snapped open, and the world around her leapt into focus.

She was facing the mouth of the alley, and could make out the profiles of three combatants in stark contrast to the lit street behind them. One figure had fallen to one knee, his long hair falling raggedly over his shoulders. As she watched, another figure stepped up and backhanded him across the face, his eyes glowing like the cores of two twin suns.

Hiei's Jagan entered the view, with the rest of Hiei's distinctive profile following close behind as he tackled the man at the shoulders, katana flashing angrily in his eye's purple glow. Then all three of them combatants fell into an indefinable heap on the ground.

Sin pushed herself up to a seated position, ignoring the protests of her injured body, and put a hand to her face. It came away covered with a sticky, red substance.

…_blood…_

Sin shook herself, attempting to quash the unusual thrill stewing in her gut, and vigorously cleaned the stuff off her face. It must have come off of the monster's hands when it smacked her.

She found she'd managed to keep her grip on the hockey stick somehow. Now that she had a moment, she could just make out a faint humming from within it, a soft buzz that filtered up through her palm. She looked it over thoroughly, wondering how the heck Mal had gotten it to fire…

That train of thought derailed as a primal roar sounded to her left. Instinctively, she kicked out with her good foot, throwing herself towards the alley. A yelp of fright escaped her as the multi-armed monster crashed down onto the space she'd just occupied, humanoid hands scrabbling at the dirt and teeth gnashing together. Sin stood up quickly, holding the hockey stick out defensively.

Her right foot, however, decided it was time to give this 'pain' thing another shot. Sin felt her leg collapse into jelly beneath her as she emitted an agonized scream.

The creature responded with another delighted howl. As she fell, it untangled its arms, gathered itself, and launched its massive frame towards her.

Its roar was cut off abruptly by a sound like a meat cleaver meeting a melon, and its head snapped backwards awkwardly.

Sin rolled over and braced herself as the enormous bulk smashed down on top of her. Gouts of blood erupted from its chest and mouth, spattering across Sin and the surrounding landscape.

…_blood…_

Conflicting feelings of disgust and delight paralyzed Sin's body. She could feel the smooth, tacky liquid running over her skin, rolling across the folds on her neck and down along the curves of her breasts. Her rational, human brain told her to scrub it off, to get this creature's insides off of her outsides. But a new part of her brain, an alien part, had suddenly arisen, and it was telling her to savor the sensation of this warm, sticky fluid.

…_blood…_

She brought her arm up to her face, running her eyes over the rolling, shifting substance. It was a deep, dark red, almost black, broken up only where her tan skin shone through a thin film of plasma. The metallic, iron smell on normally associated with blood stung her nostrils, sharpening her senses. Without thinking, her tongue flicked out, stealing a small taste. A moment later, it flashed out again, taking a much longer drag of the stuff this time. Her rational brain screamed in protest, horrified at what she was doing, but the alien brain suddenly surged to life, drowning out all thoughts except one:

…_need blood…_

A touch of red began to creep into the corners of her vision.

…_taste blood…_

She began to twist, struggling to free herself from the behemoth corpse.

…_kill…tear…eat.._

She tugged her other arm free, pulling Mal's stick along with it.

…_kill them…kill them shred them bite them eat them drink their-_

The stick continued to hum beneath her fingers, as she used it to pry herself from beneath the monster's bulk. Then, slowly, the hum faded out, and the stick emitted a bright flash, nearly blinding her.

When her vision cleared, the weapon had changed once again. The old wooden hockey stick was now a gleaming black scythe, streaked with almost imperceptible flecks of dark red. The blade gleamed dangerously, flashing along an edge sharp enough to shave with. Sin's eyes traveled along the handle, noting that, if you angled it right, the ridges and curves of the shaft seemed to form dark, ominous faces, with big, empty eye sockets and wide, gaping mouths.

Sin felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. Now this was more like it. She could feel the bloodlust fading, although it didn't vanish completely, and the reddish tinge left her eyes. She sighed, glad to be thinking clearly again.

Extracting her legs from beneath the monster, Sin rose to her feet. She tested her right foot, shielded behind many layers of plaster cast. It didn't seem to hurt anymore. She stretched and flexed. Nope, none of the rest of her body seemed to hurt, either.

The ongoing sounds of carnage caught her attention, and she turned towards the alley once more. It was still dark, but the figures were now recognizable, at least vaguely. She couldn't make out much of the standing figure, other than his burning yellow eyes and crooked walking stick. He currently held this in his left hand, since his right was currently occupied with grinding Hiei's face into the wall.

The sight of Hiei so helpless sent a pang of horror through Sin's heart, but before she could move, a thorny whip flashed out of nowhere and caught the man around the throat. Kurama set his feet and hauled back on the vine, dragging the man in the trench coat off of the small fire demon. As he staggered back, Kurama launched himself forward, wrapping his arms firmly around the man's neck and attempting to bring him to the ground. The man roared angrily and snapped his body forward, broad shoulders lifting the redhead up off the ground. As he moved to tear Kurama from his back, though, Hiei was on him as well, delivering a series of pounding blows into his chest before Sin could blink.

The man snarled at his assailants and, despite his obvious disadvantage, returned to the offensive. A small pillar grew out of the ground, and sprouted a large stone fist that slammed painfully into Kurama's back, causing him to loosen his grip. This allowed the man to reach an arm up, grasp Kurama by his crimson locks, and fling him the length of the alley into a large green dumpster. His other hand brought up the staff and swatted Hiei like a fly. He grasped the vine with both hands, grunted with effort, and tore it from his neck. It fell to the floor in pieces.

Hiei was back on him before the vine had landed, throwing a right cross into his chin that cracked as it broke the sound barrier. The man was knocked across the alley, but stayed on his feet as Hiei blurred, threw a shot into his chest, then blurred again, driving a foot into the back of his skull and sending the man to the floor.

A third blur was followed by another pile-driver blow into the man's prone form, causing the concrete to crack beneath him. The only reaction was a dull grunt from the man, who reached up and, without apparent effort, caught the subsequent attack in an outstretched fist. Hiei let out a cry of pain as the man's fist closed over his knuckles, and was slammed into the ground beside his opponent. The man rolled upright, duster billowing menacingly, and brought his staff down with a resounding crack across Hiei's forehead.

Yellow eyes burning ferociously, the man stood and raised the unconscious Hiei triumphantly into the air, still clutching his fist mercilessly. His staff tapped the ground once, and a spike of solid rock grew from the concrete next to him, tip glinting in lethal sharpness.

Solemnly, the man turned to face the spike, and drew back to impale the fire demon upon it.

Without thinking, Sin whipped her scythe up and hurled it at Hiei's captor.

Time seemed to slow down as she felt a sudden, tremendous flow of energy leave her body and flow into the weapon just before it left her fingers. The scythe began to crackle, buzzing like a swarm of hornets, and arcs of red energy trailed behind it as it spun end over end towards her target.

The blade struck the figure full in the chest before he had a chance to move. The fire demon fell to the ground beside the deadly spike as his assailant flew backwards several meters, tumbling down the narrow passage towards the lit street at the other end.

The crackle and buzz of the blade increased a hundredfold, blending and meshing with the blood-curdling scream the man emitted as he thrashed and tore at the blade in his chest. Violent, wild arcs of the same red energy lashed out like snakes, tearing apart the walls and floor of the alley where they struck, and brightly illuminating the man's wizardly staff and long, black coat.

The unearthly electric storm raged about the distressed man for what seemed like eons. Sin watched, transfixed, as he writhed and twisted within it, screaming continuously. There was something wrong, though, something odd…

The man's terrible cries slowly turned from pain to frustration to rage. He gradually stopped his wild thrashing, and, against all common sense, began to slowly, stiffly push himself up, despite the three-foot blade lodged in his chest.

It occurred to Sin then that even though the collateral effects of her attack were tearing apart concrete, the bolts that struck the man simply passed right through him, leaving no physical trace. They didn't seem to be hurting him, but judging by his screams, Sin was pretty sure that wasn't true.

And it may have just been the strobe light of the energy around him, but Sin could have sworn the man was…flickering…like an image on television with bad reception.

The man managed to right himself, leaning heavily on his staff and bent low against the wrath of the chaotic destruction around him. Slowly, deliberately, he reached towards his chest and grasped the shaft of the scythe. He gave a solid tug, and the weapon came free, skidding back down the alley towards Sin. The alien part of her brain was disappointed when she saw it wasn't covered in blood.

The man breathed heavily as he was plunged back into shadow. Red sparks still danced across his shoulders occasionally, but the full brunt of Sin's attack was gone.

Sin saw him glance up. His eyes had gone dark, but she could still feel his gaze upon her, and could still get a sense of the anger, the nearly-tangible rage that was behind it.

Then, without warning, the earth around him erupted into a set of stone jaws, which closed around him and vanished into the earth, leaving no sign of their passage in the smooth concrete, just as Hiei rose to his feet and leapt towards the retreating capsule.

His arms grasped at the air as his target faded away beneath him. Snarling loudly, Hiei dropped to one knee and threw a small fist into the ground, then another, and then another, driving an every growing divot into the stone. His low growls became frustrated screams as he drove both hands down over and over, digging himself an ever-growing crater. He passed through the layer of concrete and began hammering at the damp soil beneath it.

He had reached a depth of almost ten feet when his sustained cries of aggravation began to grow weaker, and his blows to the earth started to lose force. After a few moments, his punches began simply bouncing off of the dirt he was attacking, and at this point, he swayed a few times before collapsing into a heap at the bottom of his hole.

There was silence.

The scythe Sin had thrown flashed and returned to the old wooden broom handle Mal normally carried around.

Sin was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion, and she barely managed to keep from falling over. She shook her head, dizzy, and forced herself to work through it as she dashed to Hiei's fallen form.

Sin gasped as she dropped down beside him. Hiei's torso was a mass of dark, black bruises from were the man had struck him with staff or fist. His black pants were torn and matted with blood, and one of his shoes was missing.

The alien mind Sin had felt earlier had receded now, and she nearly retched as she picked him up: his right hand was a crumpled mass of flesh and blood stuck roughly on the end of his arm. The dragon tattoo across his forearm ducked in and out of sight beneath the streams of blood, and its head was completely obscured amidst the mangled flesh. His eyes were closed, but blood seeped from between the lids of the large Jagan, which the man's staff had struck with incredible force. His white-streaked hair was matted and sticky with the dark-red fluid, and small rivers of it coursed across his scalp and down behind his ears.

Sin clambered out of the fissure Hiei had smashed into the ground, dragging him along with her. She pulled him up over the edge and sat down, cradling his large head in her lap, and began dabbing gently at the blood with the hem of her shirt. Her vision became blurry, and she blinked a few times. To her surprise, several tears fell away from her face and onto the man in her lap.

She heard someone shuffle up behind her. "Figures," said Mal, in his normal voice. "I had a Sharkie try to eat my leg, Kurama got tossed thirty feet into a wall, and you're coddling the moron who picked this fight."

Sin turned her head around. "Look at him!"

Mal did, and his expression softened. "Ouch…I stand corrected, you're coddling the moron who died in this fight he picked-"

"Shut up, asshole," Sin snapped, "He's gonna be fine!" She looked back at the fallen warrior in her lap.

"I wouldn't worry yourself," said Kurama, walking stiffly towards the trio. "Hiei's survived much worse damage than this, and much of it was equally as self-inflicted as this is." He looked at Hiei's bleeding head, concerned. "That injury to the Jagan looks severe, though, and may take some time to heal."

He knelt down beside Sin and Hiei as Mal walked past to retrieve his weapon. "It's quite the living metaphor," Kurama mused, inspecting Hiei's wounded eye. "The Jagan Eye is one of the most powerful mystical items in the world, capable of endowing the least-adept of individuals with extraordinary psychic abilities. And yet, it is also Hiei's greatest vulnerability: if someone can manage to disrupt the eye physically, such as throwing sand or dust in it, then he is almost completely incapacitated for several moments while he fights to clear it out. I've always found it to be very intriguing."

Sin looked around and found Emina crouched by the colossal corpse of the sea monster. She seemed to be examining its head very closely.

"This whole event has me quite perplexed," Kurama continued, as Sin watched her friend peer inside the creature's massive mouth, "As strong as our opponent was, Hiei and I could normally have held him at bay for several minutes more, which would have given Mal ample time to recover and come to our aid. At the very least, I had expected Hiei to at least unleash one of his Black Dragons before he fell, although perhaps his heavy drinking prevented him from thinking so clearly."

Kurama shook his head as Emina reached her thin, pale arm between the creature's massive jaws. "Inebriation aside, though, Hiei is still one of the best fighters I've ever known. But just as we were beginning to gain the upper hand, he faltered. It was like he lost his focus on his opponent for a split second, and that was all that was needed for the tide to turn. Very strange…"

With a grunt of effort, Emina tugged her arm free, drawing Hiei's katana from the creature's maw.


	11. Chapter 10

Yep, it's been a loooooooooooooooooooong time... but I finally updated this. Many much thanks to KitsunexShi for preventing me from publishing with any EGREGIOUS errors, and to EminaKotek-nightmare for reminding me that I oughta do some more writing, it being summer and all. ;)

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the related characters referenced in this story. The characters Sin and Emina are not mine, either: Sin belongs to KitsunexShi and Emina belongs to EminaKotek-nightmare. Both of them are totally awesome and you should TOTALLY READ THEIR STUFF.

Story continues...

Sin awoke to a soothing love song humming in her ear. She basked in the soft warmth of her bed, savoring the sweet calm of a good night's sleep.

Then she tried to move.

Struggling valiantly, Sin commanded her aching arm to rise above her head towards the alarm clock. After several weak tries, the trembling limb finally hit the right button, and then collapsed limply onto her face, across her eyes. A heavy groan escaped her: she was exhausted and she hadn't even gotten off her bed.

Silence resumed. Sin lay beneath the sheets, exhausted. As her heavy lids sank closed, she could feel the steady tug of gravity on every part of her anatomy as it compressed her into the mattress and dragged the comforter down on top of her. She felt like she was at the center of a giant sleep sandwich, sitting in its wrapping on a shelf somewhere, completely immobile, unable to avoid it's ultimate fate as a midday snack for some hungry wayfarer. She had no drive, no purpose, other than to remain in place, waiting for the world to-

"Selene? Are you awake yet?"

The voice at the door was cordial, but insistent. Sin replied with a weak groan.

Her mother's voice floated back through the closed door. "Just making sure. Breakfast is on the table when you're ready for it. And they've opened the school back up, so make sure you don't miss the bus."

A similar groan followed this statement.

Sin heard footsteps pad away from the door, and silence returned.

With a Herculean effort, Sin managed to shift her arms up, plant both hands on the bed, and raise herself up to her hands and knees.

She shook her head. Why in the world was she so exhausted? Sure, she'd gotten into a fight with the shark-thing, but that hadn't taken THAT much effort had it?

She thought for a moment. Well, after the fight, she'd tossed that scythe, and then she'd felt really tired, hadn't she? Maybe that had something to do with it…

She made another valiant effort and pushed upright. There was a lot she still didn't understand, especially after yesterday, but the only way to get answers was to get her exhausted self to school and talk to the two boys. They'd left pretty quick after the incident yesterday, and things had been way too hectic to try and answer all of her questions right then. Hiei's bleeding form in her arms hadn't helped her concentration, either…

She shook her head again. No, that wasn't right. More had happened… things were going on… it was all so fuzzy, though, she'd been _so_ tired…

She shoved her train of thought roughly back on track. Right. School.

With an immense effort of will, she forced herself to stand. Her normal routine plodded past in a haze as she went through the shower, dried her hair, brushed her teeth, and threw on a few random pieces of clothing.

She trundled down the stairs, feeling slightly more awake now that she'd got her blood flowing.

Her parents were both in the kitchen as she entered, bleary-eyed. Her mother looked around from the sink, where she was busily washing dishes, and smiled. "Good morning, Selene!" She said brightly.

Her father looked up from his breakfast, and noted his daughter's death-mask look. "Wow. What's got you so excited this morning?"

She mustered the energy to raise an eyebrow at him before plunking herself down at the table as well. Still fighting the fatigue, she reached out and carefully took a few pancakes from the center tray, piling them haphazardly on her plate.

Her mother dried her hands on the dishtowel and moved towards the fridge. "Would you like something to drink, dear?"

"…yes please…" she mumbled.

"What would you like?"

"…juice…"

Her mother looked back at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

Sin shrugged, and mumbled noncommittally. "…eh…"

Her father looked up as well, concerned. "Are you feeling sick?" he asked, pushing back from the table and walking over to her.

Sin shook her head as her father laid his calloused palm across her forehead. "…no… just tired…"

Her father lifted his hand away. "Well, you don't have a fever, so that's good."

"You came home yesterday at three-o'clock and fell right asleep," said her mother, placing Sin's juice by her plate. "We were starting to worry, you slept so long."

Sin rubbed her eyes. "Yeah… I was really tired…"

Her father chuckled, rubbing her shoulder. "We could tell. So what were you up to yesterday that took so much out of you?"

She hesitated, and suddenly an image of those horrid teeth charging at her flashed across her mind.

She took a deep, calming breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "Oh, you know. Having fun. Messing around. That sorta thing." She picked up a knife and fork and began digging into her breakfast with gusto, hoping to dissuade the conversation.

Her mother took a seat next to her father, as concern seeped into her voice. "Well, what sort of fun?"

The man crumpled, screaming, to the floor, as the scythe embedded in his chest crackled with pure, destructive force that tore apart the cement beneath his feet.

Sin blinked trying to clear away the chaos that was her mind. "Just, you know… the normal kind of fun?" She cringed, finally realizing what her noncommital answers sounded like to her over protective parents.

Sin could picture her father's all too familiar raised eyebrow as he spoke, a dangerous undertone in his voice. "Sin, as your parents, we have a right to know-"

"Gin!" scolded her mother, "I told you, we shouldn't use that name!"

"Why not?" he countered. "I believe she's the one that came up with it in the first place."

Her mother folded her arms. "Well, I just don't think we should be referring to our only daughter as 'Sin,' that's all."

Her father shrugged. "As long as she's not doing anything 'sinful,' Hanna, I really don't see the harm in calling her by a comfortable nickname. I mean, all her friends use it," he patted her amiably on the back, "And I should hope I'm counted as one of your friends."

Sin looked up at him and managed to smile, despite her exhaustion.

He smiled back. "So speaking of sinful, what were you up to all yesterday?"

Sin's smile faded. "Nothing, really. Just hung out with my friends… played games…"

Her mother, still looking terse from having lost an argument, leaned forward. "Which friends?"

Sin shrugged. "Um, the normal ones?"

"You mean Emina and Suiichi?" her mom clarified.

Sin blinked. Right, Kurama was still Suiichi… she'd almost forgotten. "Yeah, and Mal and Hiei-" she caught herself too late.

"Hiei? That's a new one," her father remarked. "Or have I forgotten him?"

Sin shook her head, thinking quickly. "Um… no, he's new, a, um… he's a transfer student from, uh… South, I think. Somewhere south of here. It's a more rural area, I think, 'cause he's not… you know… "

Her mother nodded. "He's a little rough around the edges?"

Sin nodded. "Yeah…"

Her father looked stern. "Is he a friend of Malrick's, by any chance?"

She looked up at him. "No, don't think so… why?"

Her parents exchanged a look. "Just a thought. We're just worried about you hanging out with these rougher characters, is all."

Sin stared at them, confused. "You think Mal is dangerous?"

Her mother placed a hand on her arm. "We just want you to be safe, dear. I'm sure Malrick is a… fine young man, but you can never tell what might happen."

A fallen warrior lay before her, body and spirit broken, blood oozing from his wounded form…

Sin closed her eyes and pushed the plate of syrupy pancakes away from her, before scooting her chair back and standing. "I'm late for school."

* * *

Sin stood on the second floor, just outside the glaring yellow caution tape, and looked over the remains of the hallway. The blast had taken a bite out of the higher level, dropping several tons of rubble down into the first floor hall on top of the bricks that had once made up the eastern wall of the building. Three classrooms were now completely inaccessible: two on the first floor, buried behind the mounds of debris, and one on the second floor, which was allowed free access to anyone who happened to know how to fly.

Sin smirked. Hiei's speed practically allowed him to fly, so he could probably still reach the door, for whatever reason. It was ridiculous how fast he was! And he was so strong, too…

Her smirk faded. And now he was lying, unconscious, inside Emina's cottage, for the second time in as many days, only this time, he was practically bleeding from head to foot-

"Some gas leak, huh?"

Sin snapped out of her reverie as Mal walked up behind her. "Huh?"

"You know, the gas leak," he said, winking. "That's what they're calling it, remember? A natural gas explosion. Looks like a pipe may be busted, too, so there's even _evidence_ for it! Man, talk about convenient."

Sin blinked blearily at him. "Right…yeah…"

Mal glanced over at her. "You alright?"

She shook her head. "Yeah…'m fine…"

Mal raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound so fine."

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "…'m sooooooooo tired…"

Mal snorted. "No kidding. That was the first time you used your Spirit Energy, wasn't it? That scythe thing yesterday?"

After a moment, Sin nodded. "I guess… was that what it was?"

Mal nodded in return. "Yes indeed. Kind of a strange one, though… I've only ever seen Spirit Energy in blue color-"

"GLOMP ATTACK!"

Sin stumbled, and her foot slipped on the edge of the enormous  
hole, and she felt herself plummeting toward the ground. Suddenly she felt Mal's arm encircle her waist and pull her against him. "Woah! Careful, Emi, you're  
gonna push her in!" He said, laughing, as he set Sin back on her feet.

Sin pushed herself back upright as Mal steadied her and turned to face her attacker. A pair of small, apologetic crimson eyes looked back up at her. "Sorry, Sin… are you okay?"

Sin smiled, as the adrenaline rush faded leaving her even more drained, and leaned against Mal slightly, fighting the overpowering exhaustion. "I'm fine, Emi, just a little woozy…"

Emina still looked discouraged. "I was just trying to surprise you, I didn't want to-"

Sin threw her arms around her small friend. "It's fine! I still love you, Emi-chan!"

The hug was returned enthusiastically. "I love you, too, Sin-chan!"

"Aw, I love you _more_!"

"I love _you_ more-"

"Will you two stop making out within my _immediate_ personal space, please? You're gonna make me throw up…" Mal said, chuckling at his friends.

Emina stuck out a tongue at him while Sin pointed towards the destroyed hallway. "Go throw up in your hole, no one will notice."

He raised an eyebrow. "_My_ hole? This is _my_ fault now, is it?"

Emina shrugged. "You were the one that shot off the dumb 'Kame-hame-ha' that blew-"

"It's called a Nova Beam, little lady," Mal corrected, eyes flashing, "I ain't lookin' for any copyright infringements here."

Sin blinked. There was something about the way he said it… "Wait... Did you just-" She paused, not knowing how to continue.

"Harder to tell without my stick, isn't it," Mal said with a half-smile. "Anyway, Sin, the first time someone uses their spirit energy, it's _really _taxing on their body, kinda like how when you start exercising regularly, the _first_ run is going to hurt you a _lot_ more than any of the others will."

Sin shook her head. "No idea what you're talking about, but go on."

Mal pursed his lips and concentrated, looking for a suitable metaphor.

"It's like riding a bicycle," said a smooth, eloquent male voice. "The hardest part is when you first get on, and the first ride is always the most taxing, because you're utilizing muscles that have never been used before."

Emina's face blossomed into a pink blush, and she dropped her gaze, suddenly becoming fascinated with the destruction below them. Sin grinned to herself, resisting the urge to smother her friend for being so adorable. "Hey, Kura-"

"Suiichi, please, at least while we are in school," he cautioned, hand raised warningly.

Sin rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yes Mr. Flower Power man."

Kurama nodded. "Anyway, much like riding a bike, utilization of your spirit energy can only get easier with time, so you needn't worry about feeling quite so drained ever again, even if you strain yourself to your very limits."

Sin perked up a little. "Well, that's good! Erm… one thing though…"

"Yes?"

"How do I use my Spirit Energy?"

Kurama chuckled. "Well, that's the question, now isn't it? Everyone's energy is different, and manifests itself in its own way. The first step in developing your spiritual powers is to determine exactly what your spiritual powers _are_."

Emina rejoined the conversation, confused. "But didn't she use it already? She did that thing with the scythe, remember? Wouldn't that count as her using her Spirit Energy?"

Kurama furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "To tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure what that was… for one thing, Spirit Energy is almost always blue in color-"

"The thing yesterday doesn't quite count," interjected Mal, "because she was using my stick. The thing with that stick is that it helps to both amplify and control someone's spirit energy, causing it to manifest in stronger variations than it normally would."

"Why does it change, then?" asked Sin.

Mal looked away, embarrassed. "Well, it reacts to a person's true nature, bringing it more to the forefront but bringing it under tighter control as well."

Sin looked quizzically at him. "So why does it make you change even more than normal? Shouldn't it, I don't know, stabilize you?"

Mal stuck his hands in his pockets and kept looking down. "It's supposed to," he muttered.

Sin opened her mouth to question Mal further, but he shook his head and shot her a look that clearly said 'Not now.'

She pursed her lips in annoyance, but decided to comply with him this one time. "So how do I use my Spirit Energy without your stick?"

"It isn't all that difficult, quite honestly," answered Kurama. "It just takes time and concentration." He shrugged. "I could probably teach you a few basic strengthening excercises, and we could work on honing your skills whenever you had the time."

Emi's breath caught in her throat. Sin glanced a her friend, tightening her one armed hug comfortingly, silently reassuring the smaller girl of her loyalty.

The two boys failed to notice, though, as Mal nodded to himself. "That'd probably be a fine idea. Build up that skill set before the next crisis rolls around."

Kurama nodded as well, loosening his shoulders restlessly. "I could stand a few exercises myself, to be perfectly honest. I haven't bothered to train myself in years, not since the first Great Tournament, and our recent activities have proven my fighting skills to be nothing short of abysmal." He smiled companionably at Sin. "Perhaps we could keep each other in good form."

Sin glanced down at the small albino beneath her arm. Her gaze had drifted downward towards the floor as the apple of her eye spewed promises of private, solo lessons for her best friend. Sin looked back up, "Um, sure, that sounds good, but what about Emi? Could we work on her energy, too-"

"No!"

Sin jumped at the loud exclamation from the small girl, whose eyes had gone wide with fear. After a moment, she cleared her throat and brought her expression under control. "I mean… um… it's fine, really… you go work on your spirit energy with Suiichi and Mal…"

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "All modesty aside, it would be much more difficult for Emina, as she hasn't even _activated_ her energy yet. Before you can use it properly, you must find a way to break past the mental barrier that separates your physical energy from your spiritual energy."

"Right," said Mal, "and my stick is designed to do just that, in a controlled manner. Although considering how you nailed that Sharkie yesterday in two punches, I'd daresay you'd-"

"Really, it's okay" insisted the small albino. "I mean, I think yesterday may have been a bit of an accident, anyway... I saw that shark-thing eating you, and I just kinda snapped." She shrugged, then smiled. "Guess it just shows how much I love you, Mal!"

Sin winced a little as she heard Kurama emit a small, almost inaudible sigh. Emina was always a little harsh when it came to retribution.

There was a pause. "Alrighty then…" muttered Mal, fixing the girl with a strange look.

The late bell sounded suddenly enough to cause all four teens to jump. "Shit! Chem test!" shouted Mal, "Bye guys!" He turned and raced off down the hallway.

Sin grabbed Emina roughly by the arm. "C'mon, let's go!" She started to hurry away after Mal.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Kurama called after her. "You should try to be careful about your foot, you know-"

"My foot's fine!" Sin called back in a rush. She kicked the wrapped limb against the wall as she ran. "See?"

Kurama blinked a few times as his female friends ducked around the corner and out of sight.

His hand rose thoughtfully to his chin, and his gaze wandered aimlessly over the destruction as he pondered. He stuck a hand in his pocket and absently drew out a small vial of red liquid, about four centimeters in length.

After staring at it for a moment, he pocketed the vial, shifted his bag, and strode off calmly to class, still deep in thought.

* * *

Sin looked down miserably at the form lying on the bed.

Someone had nailed a large tarp roughly over the hole in the wall, but a breeze still came through around the edges of the blue plastic, ruffling Hiei's steepled hair as he slept. Even though he window had been replaced, Emina had declared that this was officially _Hiei's_ room now. "He wants to trash it some more, he can be my guest," she'd said, arms folded. "But he'll either fix up what he breaks or he'll just have to deal with a giant hole in his wall."

He was lying on his back now, closed eyes turned towards the ceiling. Heavy, cloth bandages covered most of what she could see of him, wrapping around the full length of his shirtless torso and across both of his forearms. Thick pads of gauze were taped securely across his right shoulder, as well as farther down along the back of his left calf. The rest of his legs were thickly-bandaged as well, along with three of the toes on his right foot and all of the fingers on his left hand, making it look like he was wearing a big, fuzzy mitten. His face was barely visible beneath the heavy mummification of his head; Emina said she'd had some trouble trying to properly wrap the sensitive Jagan Eye securely, and had ended up taking a bandage around to the base of his neck, wrapped across the back of his head several times, and ended up forming a domed cap on his head with just enough room for the tip of his hair to poke out. It made the whole apparatus look like the frosting on the worlds most violent cupcake.

She'd managed to clean up most of the blood from his face and arms, along with most of his torso, but Emina had refused to inspect his body any closer than that. "Whatever he's got down there is his problem to deal with, not mine," she'd proclaimed.

Sin smirked to herself. Maybe she could clean up the rest of him, while he was asleep. That way, he'd never know until-

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. No! Bad thought! Dirty thought! She found herself mentally apologizing, in case Hiei was listening in.

An idea struck her. Hiei had been completely unconscious since yesterday, and they'd all tried to wake him up after school, albeit from a safe distance, but he'd remained fast asleep. Perhaps, Sin thought, if you called out to him mentally, he could still hear you, even in his sleep…

Sin took a deep breath, and leaned over Hiei's prone form. She focused her mind, and, as much as she could, tried to direct some unseen mental radar in his direction as she thought, _Hiei? Can you hear-_

His eyes flew open. "Aaaaaaaaaagh!"

Sin yelped as he snapped upright, clutching desperately at his bandaged forehead. "Oh my God! I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"AhhhhhhhhhAAAAAAAAAGH!" he replied, pressing his clenched fists tight against his brow as he swayed back and forth. She could see blood beginning to seep between the folds of the bandage.

Sin grabbed his shoulder gently. "Jesus Christ, I am _so_ sorry-"

He smacked her hand away harshly. "Grrrrr… baka onna, _baka_ onnaaaaaaaarrrrrghhh!…"

His scream faded into a growl as he fought to drive the pain away through sheer force of will. After a minute, it was obvious he'd succeeded.

He lifted his head, breathing deeply, and brought his blood-soaked hands away from his stained forehead. He sat upright for a few moments, remaining absolutely still. His eyes flicked accusingly towards her.

She winced in apology. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"You sent a telepathic message to me by _accident_, then?" he said in a near monotone, still not moving a muscle.

Sin looked away. "Yeah, so maybe I was trying to wake you up-"

"While my Jagan eye is bleeding through four layers of bandage?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright-"

"My Jagan eye is _bleeding_, you stupid girl."

"Fine," she snarled, "next time I'll just sit there and watch you die, how 'bout that?"

"As long as you can do it quietly," he stated bluntly. With that, he lay back down onto the bed, closing his eyes and returning to the position Sin had found him in, albeit slightly bloodier than before.

Sin stood staring at him, feeling sharp pangs in her heart at his complete disregard for her concern. In his head, the entire universe revolved around him and his immediate concerns, she was sure of it. The thoughts and feelings of the people around him had absolutely no bearing on what he said or did, and it seemed like he often took the course of action with the express purpose of hurting someone's feelings.

She shook her head at his sleeping form, and couldn't help but wonder how Kurama had ended up as Hiei's friend. The two couldn't be greater opposites: Kurama was sweet and thoughtful and polite, like when he'd brought Emi those flowers after she'd kicked him out of the house, while Hiei was harsh, thoughtless, and impulsive, like when Sin had woken him up that first time and he'd slugged her in the chest out of pure instinct. That last idea continued to puzzle her: what kind of a history did you have to have when it meant that you woke up attacking someone before you'd even opened your eyes?

"My past is none of your concern, girl," said Hiei, keeping his eyes closed.

She glared at him. "I thought your stupid telepathic organ thing was shredded?"

"I don't need the Jagan's help to know why you're still standing here," he said, opening his eyes and glancing over at her. "You're wondering how I became such a cold, calculating bastard, aren't you?"

Sin snorted. "Don't even pretend not to be. You do nothing but insult the people who care about you! It's no wonder Kurama's your only friend-"

"I've already told you, making 'friends' was never my concern," he stated, matter-of-factly.

"Well maybe it should be!" she snapped, starting to get angry. "You can't go through life without anybody liking you, especially since you demons live for so long-"

"Or perhaps 'us demons' realize that friendship and affection are simply weaknesses to be exploited by your enemies," his voice trailed just a hint of malice behind it.

"Even demon mothers, then? Do demon mothers not love their children? Because you must have had a mother at some point, mister 'too-tough-to-feel-affection,' and I'm sure that… she… um…"she trailed off.

Hiei had slowly pushed himself up again at the start of her sentence, and the gaze he turned upon her caused her blood to freeze within her veins.

"What," he asked, in a darker voice than she'd ever heard before, "do you presume to know about my mother?"

Sin allowed herself a small smirk. She must have hit a nerve. "I presume that, no matter what you say, at least one person has loved you before."

She was met with stony silence, as the air separating her eyes crisped beneath the power of Hiei's crimson glare.

"Come on," she encouraged, "just say it: did your mother love-"

"She did," he said curtly, without moving a muscle.

Sin nodded. "Well, there you go-"

"She killed herself because of it."

Sin's words caught in her throat. There was an extended awkward silence as she tried to surreptitiously unstick them.

Hiei smirked, although the accusing look in his eye never wavered. "What's the matter, girl? Has the self-righteous wind finally left your sails?"

Sin's mouth worked for a moment, unable to formulate a proper apology. She settled for simply lowering her eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He snorted. "Next time, think before you speak, baka onna." With that, he lowered himself back to the bed, closing his eyes.

Sin remained standing, eyes glued shamefully to the floor. She still found herself without the proper words. "I… I didn't…I don't…" she stumbled, "how did it… I mean, why did she…" she sputtered to a halt, leaving her unfinished questions suspended awkwardly in the air. The only response was a quiet sigh from Hiei.

She could feel her face flushing, and she turned to leave, hoping to stave off more verbal blunders.

"My mother was an ice demon."

Sin stopped and looked back abruptly. Hiei's eyes had opened again, and were staring distantly at the ceiling.

"Anyone with a shred of intelligence," he continued, calmly, "will note that I am, in fact, a fire demon."

There was a pause, during which time Sin noted that she had been holding her breath. "Which means that your father-"

"Was _not_ an ice demon," he finished.

Another sigh preceded his continued. "My mother, like most weaker apparitions, was attached to a clan of her own kind living in a secluded tribe deep within the Floating Mountains that functioned under a defunct system of theocracy and superstition," he shrugged, "which, for whatever inane reason, excluded all men from the society. In fact, it did more than just exclude them: it presented them as filthy, vile scourges that should be purged from the earth. Interestingly enough, this presented the tribe with something of a population problem, as they relied purely on 'immaculate conception' to grant them a younger generation. To be honest, no one knows how conception is truly achieved within the tribe, and they probably never will.

"My mother took to traveling, leaving the clan for several months. Details divulged later unearthed nothing beyond the fact that she had had an affair with an unidentified fire youkai during her wanderings, and soon after she had returned home, she gave birth to twins."

"…why was that such a big deal, then?" Sin interrupted, trying desperately not to sound rude or ignorant. "Couldn't they have just chalked it up to 'immaculate conception?'"

Hiei snorted and shook his head softly. "No. Because up until that point, these wretched demons had only given birth to females."

Sin winced. "So when you were born a male…"

Hiei nodded. "I was a curse, a lie, an affront to their entire society: a male had been born into a clan of genetically-pure females for the first time in the tribe's unreasonably long history. The only option was to have me executed, to rid the world of the atrocity that was my very existence, and to do it as soon as possible."

"My mother," he spat wretchedly, "was something of a sentimentalist. She pleaded for my life, begging and fawning at the elder's feet, I was told. But the elder refused to be swayed. And so, six hours after being born, I was tightly swaddled in cloths and containment magics and hurled from the top of the Floating Mountains in the hopes that I would never be seen again."

He paused for a brief moment, before adding, quietly, "My mother, overcome by grief and betrayal, killed herself soon afterwards. Except for those first few hours of my life, I never saw her."

Sin paused, to make sure he was finished. "Wow… so all that… just because you were a boy?"

Hiei's jaw tightened. "My twin sister got no such treatment: she was female. But the affront lay heavier in the fact that my mother had conceived outside of the tribe, that she had engaged in conjugal relations with a male. I suppose they felt my sister's existence could be more easily… overlooked. But not only was I male," his eyes rolled upward to glare towards his crown, "I also had most of _that_ from the time I was born." He practically spat as he indicated his cone-shaped hairstyle.

Sin nodded. "That's why you get so pissed off when people make fun of your hair."

Hiei glared at the ceiling. "A surprising leap of intellect. I am overcome with shock."

Sin let the comment go by. "Well, why don't you just tell them?"

He chuckled dryly. "Why, to avoid their pathetic insults? I need not lay my life bare before the world simply because I fear a few harsh words from spineless maggots."

Sin paused for a moment. "Then why did you tell me?"

There was a brief moment of silence, and she felt her breath catch in her throat as she awaited his reply.

Hiei flipped promptly up onto his side. "You weren't going to leave until I told you."

Sin started. "What? I was _leaving_!"

"You would have come back," he stated simply, not turning over.

Sin blinked at him as the tension left like a deflating helium balloon. His serene form offered no indication that he was still acknowledging her existence.

Sin glared at him, stuck out her tongue meaningfully, and stormed silently from the room. So much for having a 'bonding moment' there…

She almost yelped as she stepped through the door and ran smack into a tall, redheaded form. "Kurama? What are you doing? Why are you standing in the middle of the hallway?"

The green-eyed youth shrugged. "I heard Hiei yell some time ago, but I felt you might already have been trying to help him, so I neglected entering the room and interrupting anything."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You heard your friend screaming in pain, so you figured I was probably trying to help him? Gee, thanks…" she started to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm and prevented her.

"That was a joke," he explained, slightly embarrassed. "I'm afraid humor has never really been my strong point. In all honesty, though, I heard you two having a conversation, and felt I should refrain from interrupting."

Sin paused, staring at him, then pointed back to the door. "Wait, how long were you standing there…?"

He smiled at her. "Long enough to know that that is more of Hiei's personal history than he has ever divulged to anyone other than myself."

Sin pursed her lips. "Yeah, I know, but he only said it so I'd go away."

Kurama winked, grinning wider. "Whatever you say, Sin," he said, turning and striding suggestively back into the foyer.

Sin sighed and went to rejoin the rest of the group, leaving the irritable little demon to his precious hibernation trance.


End file.
